Rumsey Train Station or My Home  

            My home of 26 years is the rescued and remodeled 19^th century Rumsey railroad trainmaster’s quarters.  It is located on the east side of  Hwy 16 on Rumsey Canyon Road.  The original train station, a duplicate of the Esparto Station, was located on the west side of Hwy 16 in the town of Rumsey.  The station was demolished in 1937 after the recessions and the trainmaster’s quarters were preserved and moved to their present location. 

             Rumsey, here at the North end of the Capay Valley, was named “Rock” in 1887 but the name was changed in 1892 to Rumsey after Captain Rumsey who laid out the town grid.  The train finally made it up to here from Solano County by the way of Winters and Esparto in 1877, fifteen years before the infamous 1902 earthquake.  An earlier 1892 quake had leveled Winters downtown further south and cracked some brick buildings in Esparto. However, this quake actually caused Cache Creek to stop flowing.  Residents, concerned and mystified, rode horseback up the creek until they discovered a large a landslide blocking the creek.  Water was building up dangerously and a plan was made to blast open the landslide dam with dynamite.  But before this could be done it broke of its own accord.  Fortunately it was a slow even release of water so a damaging flood was avoided and Rumsey’s extant buildings were not washed off the map. 

            The Rumsey Hall, our community center shown in its “before” state in the 1990’s photo (top, left) above, was constructed in 1903 and recently through efforts by the community, has been restored to its past early grandeur, including the stage within.  Efforts were made to make it as authentic a remodel as possible.  The Rumsey hall is used regularly for monthly meetings of the Rumsey Improvement Association as well as community events. Our annual fundraiser, the Almond Festival is held the 4^th Sunday in February and has been a regular part of the Valley wide festival welcoming the beautiful annual almond bloom since 1916.  Residents of the community sell hand made goods and our homemade cookies and cakes are offered to our visitors.  I have sold plants there from my nursery, Cache Creek Nursery, for over 20 years.  I specialize in drought tolerant perennials and herbs especially selected for the Central Valley. 

            My house was the second story of the former 19^th century local Vaca Valley and Clearlake railroad depot at Rumsey.  The Railroad ended in Rumsey at a huge turntable and never made it through the narrow Cache Creek Canyon to Clearlake and points west. This was the physical end of the line, as the development group never did succeed in financing a further expansion.   The railroad belonged to an earlier land development group of five investors, and was quite successful for decades, hauling fruit and nuts out in season and provisions such as fresh meat in via ice-cooled cars.  

            The surviving portion of the train station sat on blocks until 1952 when Frank Mubery, a San Francisco bridge builder, gave it a permanent foundation and a small addition to make it his home. The integrity and detail of the original building has survived to date and it is easily recognized as part of its twin, the Esparto Train Station at the 90-degree Hwy 16 turn in Esparto.  For my part, I have only made changes in the interior to make it more comfortable.  We still heat the home, however, with a wood stove.  The building was recently repainted matching the original colors as closely as possible.  The broad eaves and intricate shingling in lovely patterns show the beautiful workmanship put into public buildings of this period. With its heavy redwood beams it is built to stand the wear of time.  It is as sturdy today as it ever was in 1937 and indeed in the 19^th century and hopefully will be around at least for another 100 years.

                 Frances Burke, Cache Creek Nursery, Jan. 2006

 Included with permission in the forthcoming “Ramblings, Recipes, and Reflections” Copyright © 2006 James N. Haag