Brushy Peak Regional Preserve

For millennia, Brushy Peak and its surrounding landscape have drawn people from across the region. Ancient trade routes linked the Ohlone of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Miwoks of the Delta and Mt. Diablo, and the Northern Valley Yokuts, and these indigenous communities journeyed to Brushy Peak, the heart of the landscape, recognizing it as sacred. They came for its abundant bird life, scenic views, and for economic, social, and ceremonial events, and indigenous people of the region consider Brushy Peak central to their traditional stories, culture, and religion. The arrival of the Spanish in 1772 brought livestock grazing from nearby Rancho de Los Vaqueros. Later, the area was rumored to be a hideout for outlaws, including Joaquin Murietta. Homesteader Samuel Laughlin and his descendants then lived in this valley until the East Bay Regional Park District purchased it in 1997 to preserve its cultural, geologic, and wildlife values.

California · United States