{"id":445,"date":"2013-11-16T11:31:29","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T19:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shellyrobersonrealtor.com\/?p=445"},"modified":"2014-06-05T11:41:55","modified_gmt":"2014-06-05T18:41:55","slug":"palo-alto-a-history-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shellyrobersonrealtor.com\/palo-alto-a-history-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"Palo Alto – a History Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"
Palo Alto’s earliest recorded history is from 1769, when Gaspar de Portol\u00e0 discovered an Ohlone Indian settlement. A plaque is erected at Middlefield Road and Embarcadero Road to commemorate the remains an area of known Indian mounds. <\/a>The city got its name from the tall landmark Redwood tree, El Palo Alto, which still grows on the east bank of San Francisquito Creek across from Menlo Park. One trunk of the twin-trunked tree can still be found by the railroad trestle near Alma Street in El Palo Alto Park (the other trunk was destroyed during a storm in the late 20th century). There a plaque recounts the story of the Portol\u00e0 expedition, a 63-man, 200-horse expedition from San Diego to Monterey from November 7\u201311, 1769. The group overshot Monterey in the fog and when they reached modern-day Pacifica they discovered San Francisco Bay. Portol\u00e0 descended from Sweeney Ridge southeast down San Andreas Creek to Laguna Creek (now Crystal Springs Reservoirs and the Filoli estate, and thence to the San Francisquito Creek watershed, ultimately camping at El Palo Alto from November 6\u201311, 1769. Thinking the bay was too wide to cross, the group retraced their journey back to Monterey, never discovering the Golden Gate entrance to the Bay.<\/p>\nToday<\/h2>\n