Napa Valley, California, USA

North America's legendary wine and food capital The Napa Valley is a collection of small towns and villages. The Napa Valley is a name derived from the language of the area's native Wappo Indians, and has come to mean "land of plenty." "Napa" has meant a place of natural abundance for centuries�our rivers full of fish, our forests, rolling hills, wildlife, climate, and fertile land for planting crops all combine to make The Napa Valley a place of singular beauty and productivity. The first written description of the land dates to 1823 and was penned by Padre Jose Altimura who estimated that several thousand Wappo Indians inhabited the area. Word quickly spread about the abundance and temperate climate of The Napa Valley and by the late 1840s the area was teeming with quicksilver mines and lumber mills. The region's popularity grew when steamships began traveling from San Francisco to the city of Napa via the Napa River a trip they could make in about three hours. Soon afterwards, the railroad line became available from the ferry terminal at Vallejo on the shores of San Pablo Bay to the city of Calistoga, creating new access to the healing waters of Calistoga's famed hot springs. The Napa Valley has weathered some tough times in its relatively short history. The Valley's once-famed Silverado Mine was exhausted in 1875 after just three years of operation. In 1893 an outbreak of phylloxera, a serious grapevine disease, crippled many of the valley's 140 wineries. Prohibition ...