{"id":2152,"date":"2022-07-26T21:29:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T21:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2152"},"modified":"2022-07-26T21:29:59","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T21:29:59","slug":"bales-mill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2152","title":{"rendered":"Bale\u2019s Mill"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are times when we\u2019ve been on a wine tasting trip that we\u2019re eager to do something else than tasting wine.\u00a0 (Gasp!)\u00a0 Often it\u2019s because we know we\u2019ve had enough alcohol for one day, but sometimes it\u2019s just a desire to take advantage of other things that are of interest in the area we\u2019re visiting.\u00a0 As with most Americans interested in wine tasting, we\u2019ve been to California\u2019s Napa Valley more often than any other destination, which has led us from time to time to Bale\u2019s Mill.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bale\u2019s Mill, as it is today.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.<\/em><\/p>\n

The precise name is Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park, but we\u2019ve never run into anyone who calls it by its full name.\u00a0 The road signs don\u2019t, either.\u00a0 It\u2019s located on Route 29 where St. Helena and Calistoga meet.\u00a0 There\u2019s parking just off the highway and then you follow a trail through the woods until you reach the mill.\u00a0 The trail is paved, so if you didn\u2019t wear your hiking shoes, you\u2019ll be all right.\u00a0 And there are more than two miles of trails through the woods if you did come appropriately attired.<\/p>\n

The mill has been there in one form or another since 1846, when that part of the world was called Mexico.\u00a0 It was in actual use until the 1900\u2019s and has been retained and restored several times over the years.\u00a0 The most recent renovation was only completed in 2020.<\/p>\n

The mill was erected by a doctor named Edward Bale.\u00a0 It was used by local farmers who brought their grain there to be ground into flour on the mill stones, which were powered by a large wheel driven by Mill Creek.\u00a0 No doubt the mill came first and the name of the creek followed.\u00a0 Bale had married into the Vallejo family that governed the region and when he died in 1849, his widow took over its operation.\u00a0\u00a0 Evidently she was a canny businesswoman and did quite well with it.<\/p>\n

There are tours (with guides in historic dress) and milling demonstrations on the weekend.\u00a0 School tours happen during the week, so you might have a troop of little visitors with you when you go.<\/p>\n

There is an attraction to Bale\u2019s Mill for those whose primary purpose for being there is tasting wine.\u00a0 Napa Valley was and is primarily an agricultural area (although tourism is rapidly catching up).\u00a0 It\u2019s one thing to read about the history of the region and what has been grown there and quite another to see and experience it.\u00a0 Bale\u2019s Mill is a trip into Napa Valley\u2019s past and in a way of the people who made it what it is today.<\/p>\n

Before there were big corporations selling expensive bottles, there were farmers, many of whom were Italian immigrants who tilled the soil.\u00a0 Yes, they planted vines to remind them of the homes they left behind but they had to eat more than grapes.\u00a0 They grew wheat and corn and brought their produce to the widow Bale.\u00a0 There was \u2013 and is \u2013 an elevator that carried the grain upstairs to be cleaned.\u00a0 Then it was fed into the grindstones to make flour and cornmeal, which ultimately became bread.<\/p>\n

All in all, Bale\u2019s Mill makes a fine diversion from a day of sipping wine, one with a lot of history to be discovered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are times when we\u2019ve been on a wine tasting trip that we\u2019re eager to do something else than tasting wine.\u00a0 (Gasp!)\u00a0 Often it\u2019s because we know we\u2019ve had enough alcohol for one day, but sometimes it\u2019s just a desire to take advantage of other things that are of interest in the area we\u2019re visiting.\u00a0 … Continue reading Bale\u2019s Mill<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2154,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152\/revisions\/2154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}