Destination 1: Brentwood - Day 2

Hello again, fellow adventurers!

A city like Brentwood was just too big to make the Corn Festival the only reason to visit the town. And no, it's not the same Brentwood that OJ Simpson made famous 20 years ago! No, this Brentwood was made known by John Marsh in 1837. He was an East Contra Costa County pioneer who had donated much of his property that would later be developed into the city that we see today.

So how did Brentwood get its name? Well, John Marsh's old stomping grounds was in the County of Essex, England, in a township called Brentwood. Anyways, it took a century until the town was incorporated in 1948. Now, 65 years later, it is home to over 50,000 people and it's pretty diverse too!

 

When Treen and I visited this tucked away town in the Bay Area, it was like stepping into times' past.

 

Along its main street, you'll find an old, restored theater called the Delta (which only had 3 screens and was showing Disney CG-movies), barber shops, and antique stores that will really send you back in time! We ate at this one pretty good restaurant called MJ's, known for its breakfast and biscuits. However, we were trying to be healthy and ate quite a good lunch there!

   There were so many barber shops!

 

We got a copy of the local paper.

Another beautiful fountain outside of the newspaper's offices.

 






We didn't eat here, but the signs for the store were too cute and funny not to photograph.

 There are some beautiful parks in Brentwood. This is the area outside City Hall.

 

Frisky statues.

The fountain showed scenes of the agriculture and the landscape of Brentwood. It celebrated the 1948 incorporation of Brentwood as a city.

 All of the cement benches and planters around the city had these leaves on them for decoration.

There were several of these electrical units that were painted with different themes around the city, but we only got pictures of two of them.

These pillars showed Brentwood's history from the 1500's when Native Americans lived in the area, all the way to the city's incorporation in '48.

 The credit for the idea for this photo goes to Jason. He saw it first and it looks awesome. 

The other reason that we went back to Brentwood was to visit the East Contra Costa Historical Museum.

 

It's out in the farmland area, about 5-10 minutes from the city center. The museum is located in a farm house that was donated to the historical society by the Nail Family.

  It was the family home, and has been restored and well taken care of. There are many interesting artifacts from the history of Brentwood and surrounding areas, as well as the Nail's own personal property and other clothing and furniture from the era.

The museum is privately funded through donations, and receives no funding from the county, so if you're ever in the area, help support them by going for a visit.

(Left) The Nail's photos hang in the living room along with Mrs. Nail's wedding dress and antique furniture.

(Right) An old bible written in Japanese.

 John Marsh, the first settler in what is known as Brentwood today.

There were also items from the Byron Hot Springs hotel on display. The hotel has since fallen into disrepair and is closed to the public because it is in such bad shape, but before it closed, they were able to gather items to preserve the memory of what it once was.

The Byron Hot Springs Hotel in its prime.

Outside the Nail home, there is a open area where there are old vehicles, including some beautifully restored fire trucks (one from the Byron Hot Springs) and some farm equipment. 

 

They recently began restoring an old school house. The day we went, the painter was just beginning to work on the inside, so it wasn't ready to be seen, but it should be very interesting once they finish it up. They had a bunch of old school desks (with holes for ink pots) in a little room off to the side, so it will be great to see them on display properly once it's finished.

 

The museum has some resident owls that sleep in the large palm tree at the front during the day. They said that there are two of them, but we just spotted this one snoozing alone up there. It takes a good eye to spot them (and a good zoom to photograph them) because they perfectly blend in with the color of the tree and they are pretty high up.

The cows are not part of the museum but they were right next to the road. We almost went to pet them but decided against it.

On our way to Fairfield, we stopped at a gas station for some snacks and saw the best car wash ever. Then went on the bridge to the sky to get back home.

Until the next adventure!

<3 Katrina and Jason