Visit Tri-Valley, California's Historic Sites & Museums

View A List of Tri-Valley Museums & Historical Sites

Our roots are showing. In Tri-Valley, we embrace our historic roots and old California heritage.

Early Residents
The earliest residents of Tri-Valley were the Ohlone people, who moved between the bay and the inland valleys following their food sources. The Ohlone people lived a relatively constant life until Spanish soldiers claimed California as a Spanish Colony.  When Mission San Jose was established in the late 1700’s, the Tri-Valley was primarily used for their agricultural needs and grazing lands. Once Mexico won it’s independence from Spain, the government gave land grants to prominent California citizens. These great Ranchos were lost to squatters when California became a state.

Gold, Railroads & Crops
The California Gold Rush brought an influx of travelers through Tri-Valley on their way to the gold country. In the 1850s, Pleasanton was nicknamed "The Most Desperate Town in the West".  Legendary bandit Joaquin Murrieta, who inspired in part the fictional character of Zorro, would ambush prospectors on their way back from the gold rush fields and then seek refuge in Pleasanton.

But the real changes began with the completion of the transcontinental railroad, and what had been small trading settlements soon became ‘real’ towns. The railroad helped the region’s agricultural industry thrive, opening up markets across the country for locally produced grains, hops and wines.

The Roots of California Wine
One of California’s oldest wine regions, the Livermore Valley played a pivotal role in shaping California's wine industry.  Spanish missionaries planted the first wine grapes in the Livermore Valley in the 1760s.  Robert Livermore planted the first commercial vines in the 1840s. Pioneer winemakers C. H. Wente, James Concannon, and Charles Wetmore recognized the area's winegrowing potential and founded their wineries in the early 1880s.  Later it became the leading wine region in the state with over 50 wineries.  In fact, the first Grand Prix award for a U.S. wine was won by a Livermore winery at the 1889 Paris Exposition.  When Prohibition stopped almost all wine production in the region, C.H. Wente and James Concannon’s wineries survived by making sacramental wine.  

Livermore’s vineyards are the source of vines planted all over California and Oregon, including the vast majority of California’s Chardonnay.  The region has produced award-winning Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay for six decades. Today, it is home to an astonishing 45 boutique & historical wineries and growing daily.

The Early Hollywood
Before early moviemakers settled in Hollywood, they tried a few other California locations, including Niles, located minutes from Pleasanton.  The Essanay Film Company produced more than 350 films in Niles, many of them starring Bronco Billy Anderson, a pioneer of cowboy movies. Charlie Chaplin made five films here, including two of his most famous – The Champion and The Little Tramp. Pleasanton’s downtown was the location of films such as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, starring Mary Pickford, and Abbott and Costello’s It Ain’t Hay. 

The moviemakers left Niles by 1916, but their legends live on around town and at local museums, which regularly play their films with a vintage projector and live piano accompaniment.  Today, the spirit of film is still alive in Tri-Valley.  Every year the cities welcome filmmakers to the California Independent Film Festival and Danville’s International Children’s Film Festival.

Vintage Roots, Vibrant Future
In the early 20th Century, World War II influenced Tri-Valley’s history in another way.  Dublin became home to Camp Parks, the largest inland naval base in North America.  A former World War II Naval Air Station in Livermore became home to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which was established to advance science and technology.

Rock lovers will remember that in 1969 the Altamont Speedway Free Festival was held between the city of Livermore and Tracy. The infamous rock concert is best known for having been marred by violence and is sometimes said to mark the end of the hippie era.

Modern-day Tri-Valley is a wonderful blend of old and new.   We haven’t forgotten where we came from.  Let us show you our roots.

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