St. Helena (Images of America)

The town of St. Helena lies in the heart of Napa Valley, America’s celebrated wine-producing region located 63 miles north of San Francisco. In 1854, Henry Still and a Mr. Walters purchased 126 acres from the Mexican land grant of Dr. Edward Bale. They offered free lots to anyone who would start a business there, having the foresight to predict a flourishing town in this verdant agricultural area. Premium wine grapes were planted here by the 1870s, and a thriving wine industry began. There are two theories about how the town got its name: either from the local division of the Sons of Temperance or from Mount St. Helena at the northern end of the valley. As the town developed, its residents, along with those from nearby Oakville, Rutherford, Angwin, and Pope Valley, shopped at its stores, attended its churches and schools, tended its fields, and made merry at numerous gatherings. This book captures these activities in photographs dating from 1880 to 1960.