Historic Beauty

In addition to being the center of a world-famous winemaking region, the city of Napa is a historic and culinary landmark in its own right. Founded in 1847, this beautiful community on the Napa River was a staging site for the Gold Rush of the late 1850s. Although many of the city’s buildings were damaged or demolished in the earthquake of 1906, Napa’s historic downtown still exhibits reminders of the miners and merchants who helped establish the city as the economic hub of the Napa Valley — such as the historic Hatt/Napa Mill buildings, dating from the 1880s and still among the most prominent structures on Main Street, which now house the elegant Napa River Inn: the only luxury 66-room boutique hotel located in downtown Napa, shops, a spa and delightful restaurants. The 2.5-acre Napa Mill is an entertainment Mecca featuring Greenhaus Day Spa, Celedon Restaurant, Angéle French Bistro and Sweetie Pies Bakery.

Visitors are also sure to enjoy a performance at the newly restored Napa Valley Opera House or the Jarvis Conservatory and a visit to COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts. The Napa Valley Opera House, having undergone extensive restorations, reopened in 2002 as a versatile performing arts center with two separate venues. The first floor of the Opera House, the Café Theatre, offers a varied schedule of performances in a 180-seat cabaret-style setting. The historic upstairs theatre, the 500-seat Margrit Biever Mondavi Theatre, presents international quality plays, musical theatre, opera, dance, chamber music, jazz, family programming and the popular Napa Valley Arts & Lectures series.

COPIA is a new cultural museum and education center. Situated on 12 acres on the banks of the Napa River, the Center provides a gathering space for scholars, the public, and all food, wine and art enthusiasts to explore and celebrate America’s contributions to wine and food. The 80,000-square-foot facility houses an auditorium, café, state-of-the-art teaching kitchens, and 13,000-square-feet of permanent and traveling exhibitions. The outdoors provides a 500-seat concert terrace and 3.5 acres of gardens that complement both the natural scenery of Napa and the beauty of the architecture.

Whether it’s food, wine, beautiful scenery, relaxation or culture that you desire, the city of Napa has it all — including the pleasing year-round climate for which California is famous.

For these reasons, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the country’s largest private, nonprofit preservation organization, named Napa to its 2004 list of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations, an annual list of unique and lovingly preserved communities in the United States.

“The city of Napa has been overshadowed by the worldwide fame of the Napa Valley winemaking region,” said National Trust President Richard Moe. “We’re very happy to turn the spotlight on this unique community and make travelers aware of the rich variety of historic, cultural and recreational attractions it has to offer as a vacation destination.”