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Lake Berryessa - The Map

Downloadable Map PDF

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Reviews - Yelp!

Reviews - TripAdvisor

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Memorial Day 2012: History and Memory at Lake Berryessa. Welcome to Summer!

The theme of this issue is history and memory.A big history event is coming to the Spanish Flat Village Center and Berryessa Senior Center on Sunday, May 27. First comes the Monticello History Event at Spanish Flat Village Center. Old timers and their families from the Town of Monticello will meet at the cemetery around 11 AM. to visit and talk about old times and pay respects to friends and families that have gone before them.

At about 2 PM there will be an open house event at the Monticello History Exhibit. New pictures and items will be on display. There will be a chicken poker game for $5 dollars a card - chance to win $100 dollars. Ice Cream Cones for all visitors...meet with old timers....

Around 2:30 PM the scuba divers of the Berryessa Bridges Project (see story below) will put on a presentation with photos and video about their search for the Putah Creeek Stone Bridge and their actual adventure dive to the bridge itself.

Then in the Senior Center parking lot from 5PM - 10 PM. there will be a Barn Dance with hay bales and a cowboy theme. (See Page 5) There will be music to match the crowd and a BBQ. Proceeds will be divided evenly between the Senior Center and the Monticello Veterans Memorial Wall at the Monticello Cemetery next to the Senior Center. (See Cemetery story and photos on Page 8.)

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Scuba Diving To and Through the Putah Creek Stone Bridge
By Sharon Eckroth, Berryessa Bridges Project

Our team has made yet another terrific SCUBA dive to the Big Stone Bridge. My partner and I performed the dive on May 12.  It was in a word; amazing. The day offered the best in-water visibility we’ve had in the lake to date. The surface conditions were fabulous with the warm, nearly tropical sun falling on the placid teal water. A refreshing northerly breeze kept the boat deck conditions comfortable.  We quickly descended to the bridge carefully arresting our decent above the road bed at about 120 feet so as not to disturb 55 years of baby powder fine silt.  I tied off a safety line and we swam over the side of the BSB to locate an arch. This was truly a sight to behold, the BSB in all of her architectural splendor. The beautiful soft hues of the stone had an almost calming effect.

With lights ablaze and video camera rolling, we collected ourselves and executed the dive plan, a swim through the arch to the other side. The roadbed is roughly 27 feet in width so it was a short jaunt as underwater swims go. Although the visibility was an amazing twenty feet, the water was dark akin to a coal mine after midnight. Without artificial light the conditions could rapidly turn into one’s worst nightmare. The water temperature was a comfortable 52 degrees, if you’re an Eskimo! Read full story here...

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Lake Berryessa Level Update as of Monday, 5/14/12

The elevation of Glory Hole spillway at Monticello Dam is 440' above mean sea level (msl). Lake level has dropped 7” during the last two weeks and is now at 430.85’ or 9.15’ below Glory Hole. Lake Berryessa has had 19.46” of rain since July 1, 2011. As of May 7 water temperature was 68 degrees from 1 to 10 feet deep; 62 at 40 feet, and 53 at 70 feet.

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Pope Valley Store: A Cultural Time Capsule of Local History

Standing at the crossroads of Pope Valley, the Pope Valley Store was the center of activities for the area's residents for nearly a century, and served as a stopover for people traveling to the mines in Lake County. It was built about 1875. In 1913 a second gable roofed building was attached. The "store" housed a post office, a saloon, hotel, and sold food and hardware. An adjacent barn served as a garage that was one of the first AAA stations in the state. Storeowner Brad Kirkpatrick also reveals that there is a Prohibition-era brewery beneath the floor of the store he has operated since the 1950s. Read full story with photos here...

Inside the Pope Valley Store Photo Album

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Pope Valley and George Washington: A Historical Connection?

Bill Eaton is a retired statistician turned screenwriter. He has been connected to Pope Valley for years since his spouse, Florence Eaton, is the Superintendent of and teacher at the Pope Valley School.

Granddad and George Washington
by Bill Eaton

Warton is not the sort of place you’ll find on a tourist map. It’s just a one street village with a pub and a post office about 10 rural miles north of Lancaster, itself remotely located in North West England. I was bred (and buttered) in Lancaster, some 60 years ago and left, in my youth, to seek fame and fortune in the colonies, eventually arriving in the largest and most successful one – the USA. Despite its insignificant size Warton has a unique claim to fame. The main street houses the ancestral home of the Washington family. Lawrence Washington arrived in Warton around 1300 and his great grandson Robert helped build St. Oswald’s church at the end of the village. The church flies The Stars and Stripes every July Fourth using a flag donated from the Capitol Building in Washington DC. More...

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Japanese Adventure Continues!
Bill had another chance to appear in a Japanese commercial as a Viking. But he had a hard time doing the big glowing Japanese smile. He had to say a still-secret word (until the commercial airs in Japan), once with a serious expression, then smiling, then with a big smile. Unfortunately he didn’t get the part. Bill and Karla return to Lake Berryessa for a visit at the end of June. Then we can all hear him sing and play again at Cucina Italiana. He does really have a cute smile don't you think!

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Dufer Point Visitor Center: A Sad Case of Revisionist History

In a stealth move that has already upset many local residents and visitors, the Bureau of Reclamation recently resurrected a sign that has been in storage for the last four years. The problem with this story is how do you oppose something without seeming mean or petty. I knew Cleve Dufer. He was a pleasant fellow who raised dogs and fell off a ladder. Although Mr. Dufer was Concession Manager for many years and was generally well-liked as a person, but many local residents and resort mobile homeowners considered him instrumental in the deterioration of the lake resorts which led to the present disaster at Lake Berryessa. I reprinted a story from 2009 that gives more details of the issue. Read the full story here...

NEW: After this story was printed, Cong. Thompson's office sent the following information as justification for the name change of the Lake Berryessa Visitor Center. Although the point of land on the shoreline has been officially named in Mr. Dufer's honor, which is a fitting tribute to his legacy, it still does not justify to many local resients and visitors the renaming of the Visitor Center. Visitors are not coming to see Dufer Point, they are here to experience Lake Berryessa.

May 4, 2012 from Mike Finnegan to Ms. Dufer: The Bureau of Reclamation is pleased to inform you that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, at its February 9, 2012 meeting, approved Reclamation's proposal to designate a cape in the Lake Berryessa Recreation Area, Napa County, as "Dufer Point". The approval was made possible with the support of Congressman Thompson, First Congressional District, and Supervisor Diane Dillon, Napa County Supervisor, District 3. As a result of the official designation, Reclamation has installed a sign and officially renamed the visitor center on Knoxville Road to the Dufer Point Visitor Center. Reclamation is indebted to Cleve for his contributions toward the initiation and implementation of the Visitor Services Plan for Lake Berryessa. It was an honor for those who worked alongside Cleve at Lake Berryessa and shared his passion for the future of the resource and the visiting public.

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February 21, 2012, from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names: This is to inform you that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, at its February 9, 202 meeting, approved the proposal to apply the new name Dufer Point to an unnamed cape in the Bureau of Reclamation Lake Berryessa Recreation Area in Napa County. The name has been entered into the Geographic Names Information System, the nation's official geographic names repository, which is available and searchable online at http://geonames.usgs.gov.

The entry reads as follows:  "DuferPoint: cape; in Lake Berryessa Recreation Area, 0.7 mi. SW of Goat Island, 10 mi. E of Angwin, 19 mi SW of Cadenasso; named in honor of former Bureau of Reclamation concessions manager and U.S. Air Force veteran Cleve Dufer (1956-2006); Napa County, California; Sec 7, T8N. R3 W, Mount Diablo Meridian; 38°33'05"N, 122°13'36"W; USGS map-Lake Berryessa 1:24,000; Not: Government Point."

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Fishing with Sid - or my wife is a fish magnet!

Unbelievable fishing this past weekend and my wife was a fish magnet. On Friday I went out for a few hours with Kevin. The lake was calm what a difference from last weekend. We saw boils in the water and threw our lines into it with great success. The trout were all over the lake in deep water as well as shallow and seemed to be biting anything we threw out. We ended up with full limits. Read full story here...

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Calendar

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May 19 - Saturday: Senior Center Pancake and Sausage Breakfast. 8:30 - 11 AM. Included bacon, eggs and pancakes. $5 - Adults, $3 - Children. Bingo after (if sufficient people). Cards 3 for $6 or 6 for $12 Horseshoes also available. 707-966-0206

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May 27 - Sunday: Monticello History Day at the Spanish Flat Village Center at 2 PM. Monticello Old-Timers Reunion, Fun & Games. Hopefully a video presentation by the Scuba Divers of the Berryessa Bridges Project of the discovery and video recording the Putah Creek Stone Bridge at 125 feet below Lake Berryessa.

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May 27 - Sunday: BBQ & Barn Dance Fund Raiser, Beryessa Senior Center, 5 - 10 PM.

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June 2 - Saturday: Lake Berryessa Open Water Swim 2012 at Oak Shores Park at Lake Berryessa. www.damfast.org/berrywelcome.htm. E-mail: plprice@ucdavis-alumni.com

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June 3 - Sunday: World Environment Day at Markley Cove Resort

Lake Berryessa will celebrate World Environment Day June 3 with a group clean-up of the lakeshore followed by a picnic lunch complete with cake and a raffle for all participants. The event begins at 9:30 a.m., with the clean-up event slated to run from 10 a.m. until noon.

The event is sponsored by the Lake Berryessa Watershed Partnership with funding from Anheuser Busch/The River Network. Joining efforts by the Anheuser Busch Brewery in Fairfield, the Bureau of Reclamation and Solano Resource Conservation District are organizing this year's event. Lake Berryessa Boat and Jet Ski Rental will participate by hauling the collected trash and Markley Cove Resort will provide space for the picnic with cake and a raffle. All participants need to wear sturdy shoes or hiking boots and bring work gloves if possible. Everyone who pre-registers by May 27 will get a free World Environment Day shirt.

For more information or to sign up, contact Marianne.Butler@Solanorcd.org or 301-5778.

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June 16 - Saturday: Senior Center Wine, Cheese, and Olive Oil Tasting. 4 - 7 PM. 707-966-0206

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June 30 - Saturday: ALS Association’s 8^th Annual Napa Valley Ride to Defeat ALS and Walk, Yountville Veteran’s Home, 6 AM to 2 PM. Diane Viodes, Dviodes@alssac.org (916) 979-9265. www.ridetodefeatals.org or www.alssac.org

The 8^th Annual Napa Valley Ride to Defeat ALS and Walk is a one-day, fully-supported cycling event that raises funds to support the mission and vision The California Chapters of The ALS Association

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July 21 - Saturday: Senior Center Casino Night. Free pasta dinner and big raffle. 5:30 - 10 PM. 707-966-0206

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Thanks to PNC Valley Internet for great high speed data service!

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