A
few years ago I was wandering around a ranch next to my aunt’s old summer
resort. There is a great big apple dryer on this neighboring property,
as well as several interesting old barns. But the best part that day was
discovering a cache of old Model-T era cars and trucks under some trees.
One
truck was particularly interesting because, while it had emblems identifying
it as a “Reo Speedwagon”, there was a pretty big tree growing through
the middle of it, where the truck bed should have been.
To be able
to still find this kind of stuff is to be able to still find what I call
“Old Boonville”. My uncle Dewitt once told me that as a kid hiking the
Valley hills in the 1930’s he came across an abandoned cabin that used
old newspapers to insulate its interior walls. Taking a closer look at
the papers he found that they were from the Civil War era. There was no
telling how long this place had been there. Time frozen, is still an intriguing
aspect of living here.
| "I
had heard the family stories for years..." |
|
Sometime after
discovering the Reo I called the owner of the property for permission
to take some photos. When I mentioned the Speedwagon he said that he got
it from his neighbor (my uncle Avon) and that, “It had been your grandfather's.
He used it to haul bootleg liquor during prohibition. It had some hidden
places for the booze.”
Now that was
a real surprise. I just happened upon an abandoned old truck that used
to belong to my grandfather and he used it during prohibition to haul
liquor?
I had heard
the family stories for years. I had pestered my Aunt Leonore to tell me
them over and over again when I was a kid living at the resort. So now
I started to look into them a little more.
The image
at the head of this article is of my great grandfather John Mason’s San
Francisco Brewery. It is a photo taken from a lithograph that hangs in
my uncle DeWitt’s dining room.
Mason’s Brewery
was one of the first in San Francisco. It was a Steam Brewery and they
also made Irish Whiskey. Masons was founded in 1851. It moved to Sausalito
in 1892 as Mason’s Malt Whisky Distilling Co. and by 1925 was producing
one sixth of all the alcohol in the country. The site of the old distillery
is now called Whiskey Square.
John Mason
had come to California from Ireland in 1849 but his wife died and he had
to go back to get another one. The one he got this time was from New York
and her name was Mary Hayes. Her father, Jacob Hayes was the first Chief
of Police in New York City. That was in 1803, and he held the position
for fifty years.
Stumbling
upon what was left of that old truck and finding some ties with my own
past illustrates one of the pleasures of Old Boonville for me. But there
is more to it than just nostalgia. This small country town allows us to
sometimes get a glimpse of simplicity that is harder to discover in the
outside world. While chopping wood, working on the well, or occasionally
going without electricity may not sound like amenities, they can be when
they slow things down just enough so that a metaphorical Old Boonville
can come clearly into view.
I read a story
recently about a Silicon Valley executive that was so busy that when the
lights at his home failed one winter he just didn’t have time to fix them
so he went without and used only candles for light. Over time he came
to love the soft flickering glow so much that he never did fix the lights,
he just kept the candles. At first his girlfriend would come over and
complain bitterly about it, but soon, she too lit her own home with candles.
They each had accidentally introduced themselves to something they would
never have otherwise chosen.
Now I actively
look for and try to celebrate Old Boonville when ever I can find it.
