Describe Haystack Landing here.
Historic site Ca-Son-1465H, Haystack Landing, was initially identified and recorded in April of 1985 by John Hayes and Susan Alvarez of the Cultural Resources Facility of the Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California. At that time, Ca-Son-1465H was described as consisting of a nineteenth-century house located within the project area and at least one barn of probable mid- to late nineteenth-century construction located below the knoll on the south side of the project area. A board-covered pit was situated below the house on the northern down slope of the knoll (Alvarez and Hayes 1985). It was also noted that "the stone foundation of the house was altered on the south and west sides."
Currently, the house is raised off the ground and perched on large, horizontal wooden beams supported in places by upright beams placed on concrete blocks. Most of the stone foundation has been removed. A modem PVC sewer line and natural gas hookup were observed protruding from beneath the house along the south side. Construction materials (i.e. square cut nails) and construction style (i.e. imported stone foundation and ltalianate architectural features) indicate that the house was built in the mid- to late 1800s.
A review of historical maps indicate that Haystack Landing was a portion of property owned by John A. Rudesill in the 1860s (GLO plat map 1864; Bowers 1867) and later by O. Eldridge (Thompson 1877). A residence and the landing are indicated on these maps, suggesting that the Haystack Landing house was built prior to 1864 (Map 5). Haystack Landing also appears on a map of the Petaluma and Napa Creeks surveyed in 1860, however, the residence is not shown (Map 6). It appears that the Haystack Landing house was built between 1860 and 1864.
The Haystack Landing project area is labeled "Haystack" on the current USGS quadrangle map. This marks the location of Haystack Landing, also known as Rudesill's Landing for many years. The landing was a terminus for steamboats from San Francisco as well as for stage travel. Rudesill advertised his August 1857 establishment of staging facilities for mail delivery and passenger travel in the local newspaper Sonoma Democrat (Sonoma Democrat, October 22, 1857), and a magazine writer referred to "steamboat navigation ofPetaluma Creek" to Haystack Landing in 1860 (Hutching's California Magazine, Vol. IV, No.7, January 1860).
