Bella Vista Ranch

Today the ranch is where Bob Carty and his family make their home, and where they grow wine grapes and olive trees, but once upon a time it was home to the Suisun Indians. In fact, stone morter holes beneath nearby ancient oak trees, and obsidian arrowheads in the rich soil between the grape vines, belie the presence of this now extinct Patwin Indi... an tribelet. The Suisuns leader during the mission period was Sem-Yeto, better known as Chief Solano, and he briefly held a Spanish rancho, the Suisun land grant, which by 1847 was in the hands of General Mariano Vallejo. Bella Vista Ranch came into being on September 6, 1866 when Joseph Cooper Wolfskill (1843-1914), a nephew of Solano County pioneers and grape growers John Reid and William Wolfskill, bought a 700-acre strip of contested land between the Suisun and Armijo (Tolenas Grant) Ranchos from Benecia businessman and land investor Samuel C. Gray. Joseph, with his father Mathus (1810-1891), planted wheat, oats, corn, and barley in the flats between steep ridges that bordered their acreage. Joseph probably also grew Mission grapes brought over from his uncle John's ranch at nearby Putah Creek. But prior to World War I,Read More