The hills above town tell an older story about the sea. The East Bay ridges once carried a forest of giant coast redwoods, and two of them stood so tall that ship captains sixteen miles out lined them up with Yerba Buena Island to steer clear of Blossom Rock, a hazard lurking just beneath the bay — Captain F.W. Beechey of the Royal Navy wrote the bearing into his log in 1826. The old giants were felled by about 1855 to build Gold Rush San Francisco, and the redwoods that shade Redwood Regional and Joaquin Miller parks today are their descendants, sprouted from the original stumps. The site of the Navigation Trees is California Historical Landmark No. 962, at the Madrone Picnic Area high in the Oakland hills.
As the city grew, one of its mayors gave it a treasure. Samuel Merritt, mayor from 1867 to 1869, proposed and funded a dam across a tidal slough at the heart of downtown, turning brackish marsh into a clean saltwater lake. In 1870 the state legislature declared it a refuge for the migrating birds of the Pacific Flyway that crowded its shores — the first official wildlife refuge in the United States. Lake Merritt has been the jewel of Oakland ever since: 155 acres and three and a half miles around, ringed by parkland and five little bird islands, still alive with herons, pelicans, and the great autumn flights, and a National Historic Landmark since 1963. A wild lake in the middle of a working city is a very Oakland kind of idea.
Why People Visit Oakland
Visitors come to Oakland for a Bay Area city with its own strong character: a wild lake at its center, redwood groves in the hills, a historic waterfront, and one of the most celebrated food scenes in California. The museums and Jack London Square sit minutes from the lake, and San Francisco is a quick trip across the bay. Equal parts oak-grove heritage and creative energy, Oakland rewards anyone drawn to the heart of the East Bay.
