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Marsh Creek State Park, located in East Contra Costa County, California, was named as the newest California State Park in California on January 27, 2012.〔("Marsh Creek State Park." California Department of Parks and Recreation." ) January 27, 2012. Retrieved January 2015.〕 The newly named park (formerly called the Cowell Ranch/John Marsh State Park) contains and is about south of downtown Brentwood. It is not open to the public as of January 2015.〔(King, Paula. "State's newest park near Brentwood is named Marsh Creek State Park." ) ''Contra Costa Times''. January 27, 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2015.〕 No opening date has been announced. The park honors California pioneer John Marsh (1799–1856), who was a doctor, rancher, landowner and the first non-Hispanic European to settle in what is now Contra Costa County, California.〔 Marsh was the first medical doctor in California, the first Harvard graduate in the territory, the first to introduce a number of new crops, and one of the most influential men in the establishment of California statehood.〔Lyman, George D. ''John Marsh, Pioneer: The Life Story of a Trail-blazer on Six Frontiers,'' pp. vii-x, 212-223, 237-275, The Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, New York, 1931.〕〔Winkley, John W., ''Dr. John Marsh: Wilderness Scout,'' pp. 54-72, The Parthenon Press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1962.〕〔Thompson, Thomas Hinkley, and West, Albert Augustus. ''History of San Joaquin County, California,'' p. 13, 1879.〕〔Hanel, Dan. ''In the Shadow of Diablo: Mystery of the Great Stone House,'' Preface, 268-70, CreateSpace, 2012. ISBN 978-1475082920. ISBN 1475082924.〕 Marsh, a widower, was a native of Massachusetts, who had previously lived in Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and New Mexico before settling in Los Angeles, California. In 1838, he acquired Rancho Los Meganos in northern California. The ranch covered over , and extended over to the San Joaquin River, where Marsh's Landing was built (near present-day Antioch California).〔( Weinstein, Dave. "Saving the house that Marsh built." ) ''San Francisco Chronicle''. December 7, 2002 Retrieved January 25, 2015.〕 The park covers a portion of this former rancho. Marsh reportedly paid $300 in cowhides for the land.〔(Nolte, Carl. "CONTRA COSTA COUNTY / Remembering colorful but unpopular pioneer / Slain 150 years ago, man, his home are focus of coming park." ) ''San Francisco Chronicle''. September 24, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2015.〕 The John Marsh House was added to the National Register of Historic Places (Reference Number 71000136) under Criteria A, B and C on October 7, 1971.〔("John Marsh House." ) Retrieved January 29, 2015.〕 ==History== Archaeologists have found that Native Americans lived in the East Contra Costa County area at least 7,000 years ago. Some of the groups identified with the area are the Volvone and the Miwoks. Excavations have turned up human remains and other historical items that confirm this. Some burial sites have been identified. The park planners intend to protect these cultural sites that lie within the park boundaries.〔 A highlight of the park is the home of John Marsh, which was begun in 1853 and completed in 1856, and which has been undergoing extensive renovation for several years. Initially, Marsh lived in a four-room adobe house which had been built on the property for him by local Miwok Indians. Marsh apparently got along well with the Miwoks and had even provided them with free medical care. In return, the tribesmen built the adobe house.〔( "Polishing East County’s hidden jewel." ) Retrieved January 29, 2015.〕 After he remarried in 1851, he retained San Francisco architect Thomas Boyd to design a grand new mansion. Many of the features apparently were stipulated by Marsh himself.〔 John's wife, Abby, had selected the site for the house along Marsh Creek. The new Gothic Revival style house was three stories high and had an observation tower that rose into the air. Marsh built the tower so that he could see the approach of strangers from a great distance. Rustlers and marauders frequently came to his ranch to steal cattle or steal other valuables. However, the stone tower proved vulnerable to earthquakes. The original tower collapsed from a quake in 1868. It was rebuilt with wood, but the replacement collapsed again after the 1906 quake.〔 Images from the Historical American Building Survey (HABS) collection in the Library of Congress shown here depict the differences in the two structures. This house is the earliest substantial building in Contra Costa County that was not built entirely of adobe.〔 The Marsh mansion soon became known as the "Stone House" because the walls were covered with locally-quarried sandstone. Abby died in 1855, before the house was finished, while John was murdered on September 24, 1856, three weeks after he moved into the house. Marsh was the first non-Hispanic white settler to live in the county.〔 The property encompassed by Marsh Creek State Park was part of Rancho Los Meganos, (''Los Meganos'' is a Spanish phrase meaning "sand dunes"), which Marsh acquired in 1838. In 1860, the U. S. Land Commission recognized over as part of the Marsh estate, which was shared by Charles and Alice Marsh. Alice was the daughter of John and Abby. Charles was John's son by John's first marriage. Neither Charles nor Alice lived in the house after the parents died; the building began to suffer from neglect. A series of tenant farmers occupied the house.〔(Bagley, Will. "Old Adventurer Lured the First Wagons to Utah." ) ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' January 20, 2002. Retrieved January 27, 2015.〕 Reportedly, one occupant complained in 1878 that the house was in bad shape.〔 The ranch was bought by the Balfour-Guthrie Company. The Cowell Company subsequently acquired the house and land.〔( Mero, William. "Love, Life and Death on the California Frontier: A Woman's Life in Old Contra Costa." ) . Retrieved January 25, 2015.〕 Neither company had any particular use for the house and spent little on maintenance. The south wall collapsed more than 20 years ago, and a part of the west wall collapsed more recently. Cracks suggested that the north wall could fall soon, and that stabilization of the house was a priority, if the house were to be saved. The roof also needed to be replaced.〔〔(Metz, Gene. "Saving the John Marsh House:Part II." ''Delta Living Magazine''. ) July - September 2013. pp. 26-27. Retrieved February 1, 2015.〕 In 1960, Henry Cowell donated the house to Contra Costa County.〔 In 1979, ownership passed to the California State Parks Department.〔(Cerny, Susan Dinkelspiel and Beth A. Armstrong. ''An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area''. p. 316. ) Available on Google Books. Retrieved January 29, 2015.〕 Nearly one million dollars has been spent on stabilizing the house since 2006. This work was required to keep the sandstone structure from collapsing.〔("Rick Lemyre named executive director of John Marsh Historic Trust." ) East County Today. September 20, 2013.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Marsh Creek State Park (California)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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