The Aetna Springs Resort is a historic

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

located in Pope Valley in the north eastern part of

Napa County Napa County () is a county north of San Pablo Bay located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 138,019. The county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original co ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Etymology

It was named after a nearby

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

. The spring was so named by the owner of the Aetna Mines, John Lawley, when he discovered the spring in the 1880s.

History

Aetna springs was founded by Chancellor Hartson in 1877. In August 2020, Aetna Springs was evacuated due to the Hennessey Fire, which resulted in the burning of over in five counties, including in Aetna Springs. The resort and spa were originally developed by San Francisco advertising executive Len D. Owens who began development of the resort in 1891 after he purchased the property for $35,000 in the 1870s and quickly became a popular summertime destination for vacationers from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. Owens was Frances Marion's father. One of the first golf courses west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

was built on the resort's property in 1891. George Heibel, bought the resort from Owens in 1945. In 1966

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

announced his intention to run for the office of Governor of California in the dining hall at the resort. Heibel sold the resort to Environmental Systems in 1972. The resort again sold in 1976 to New Educational Development Systems, a nonprofit corporation associated with the

Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...

. On June 9, 2009 it was announced that the Aetna Springs Resort would close.

Snell Valley Snell Valley is a depression landform in Napa County, California. This feature is located approximately five miles north of Aetna Springs. The valley is noted for its diversity of wildflowers, and within Snell Valley is the Missimer Wildflower P ...

lies to the north of Aetna Springs. In early 2012 the Napa County Planning Commission approved plans to renovate existing 28 structures and build a new lodge on the property. The resort property was sold to Alchemy Resorts in 2018. In 2023, it was announced that the resort will be restored as Six Senses Napa Valley, with a reopening set for 2026.

In literature

Aetna Springs is the locale of

Frances Marion Frances Marion (born Marion Benson Owens, November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter, director, journalist and author often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis a ...

's ''Valley People'', a book of short stories published in 1935.Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood, Cari Beauchamp, University of California Press, 1997.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Napa County, California Vaca Mountains Tourist attractions in Napa County, California

Etymology

History

In literature

See also

References