You Ask, Sonoma Patch Answers: Glen Ellen

As the gateway to some of Sonoma Valley's finest wineries and the Jack London Historic State Park, Glen Ellen has great community spirit, a renowned annual Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast put on by the Fire Department and is home to outstanding restaurants and a gourmet grocery store.

But a town it is not. Some call Glen Ellen a village, but it is more like a hamlet. However, during the early 1880's Glen Ellen was one of Sonoma Valley's growing communities.

It began in 1859 when Colonel Charles Stuart purchased land from General Vallejo and established a 1,000-acre ranch with vineyards that he named in honor of his Scottish wife, Ellen. Appropriately, he added the Gaelic word 'Glen' which means, 'secluded mountain valley.'

Residents who settled nearby had another idea. They wanted to call their burgeoning town, Lebanon. But the postal service decided the nation had too many Lebanons, so Glen Ellen it had to be.

For reasons unknown, Stuart renamed his ranch Glen Oaks. You can still see parts of it off Highway 12, east of Glen Ellen. His house still stands. It's near the intersection of Arnold Drive and Highway 12 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

During Glen Ellen's hey-day, Stuart and his wife hosted notable residents of Sonoma Valley. Their guests would come by train, and then horse drawn carriages would take them to their colonial-inspired home. They entertained with lavish balls, theatrical presentations and dinner parties; plenty of champagne flowed. After all, Stuart was one of the largest sparkling wine producers in the state.

After his death in 1880, Mary Ellen took over the winemaking business, doubling the output in the first year. She became one of Sonoma Valley's few lady winemakers, producing quality vintages, and did so at a time when women couldn't vote.

By the late 1890's, Glen Ellen had become a popular summer destination for fog-stressed residents of San Francisco. They boarded ferry boats and then transferred to trains in Sausalito or at Sonoma Landing. From there they reached the resorts and hotels surrounding Glen Ellen, Fetters Hot Springs and Agua Caliente.

But it wouldn't last. "The demise of passenger trains and the coming of the automobile slowed the growth of Glen Ellen, just like it later did at Boyes and Fetters," said Sonoma city historian George McKale. "With the change in transportation, Glen Ellen lost its appeal and the population declined."   

Today Glen Ellen is what it is. Which is not bad at all; a secluded hamlet tucked within a mountain valley, where the spirit of a bonny-lass from Scotland lives on.

A final bit of historical trivia: Glen Ellen is not only the hometown of one of America's great writers, Jack London, but in 1964 counter-culture journalist, Hunter Thompson made Glen Ellen his home. A few years later, catching the whiff of flower-power, Thompson took off for San Francisco and the rest, as they say, is history.