Oldest Alpine Valley Home to Be
Torn Down
by Mike Pardee
Like the old house in
the song, Alpine Valley's oldest residence is "going to meet the Lord."
Mrs. C. E. Park of
7175 St. Helena road said "it's going to be taken down very shortly - before it
falls down."
The house is a
two-room, two-story, log building with dovetailed corners that has been a
landmark in Alpine Valley longer than the memory of the oldest resident.
It stands on the R. B.
Nawman ranch, where Mr. and Mrs. Park and their four youngsters live. It has
even outlived its most recent usefulness - a shelter for the Park car. The old
structure is getting so rickety that it isn't even safe for automobile
storage.
No one remembers for
sure its actual history. Some say it was put up in 1827 by some of the original
Spanish residents.
When Mr. and Mrs.
Frederick Wendt moved into the beautiful and isolated V-shaped valley in the
1860's to settle on a portion of Julio Carrillo's original rancho, the old
cabin stood nearby.
Mr. Wendt moved the
house on rollers to the location he and Mrs. Wendt had selected for their
homesite and they lived in it for five years.
Old time valley
residents also recalled recently that at one time the building served as the
original Alpine Valley school. The schoolteacher lived on the top floor - which
was reached by a steep, boxed-in staircase - and used the lower floor for a
classroom.
In later years the old
building has served for a variety of uses, including, if the metal De Laval
separator sign nailed to the door is an indication, as a dairy.
But aside from
sheltering the park car and occasionally serving as a playhouse for the Park
children, it has long since served its usefulness. Soon it will just be a
memory.
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