This deeply-researched narrative relates the history of a pleasant, fertile valley in Northern California and the successive uses to which the land has been put by the generations who have made the place home. Its transformations from Native American paradise to homesteader's heaven, fruit-growing haven, and Country Club community of single-family homes are richly detailed, as are the infrastructure improvements that connected the remote valley to the broader Bay Area and to the rest of the United States. Above all, this is the story of a place-a blessed patch of the Golden State with a matchless climate, abundant water, and fruitful soil-and how this charmed physical setting has been appreciated, apportioned, and altered over time.