Pieta, California

Pieta
Unincorporated community
1912 postcard of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad station at Pieta
1912 postcard of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad station at Pieta
Pieta is located in California
Pieta
Pieta
Location in California
Pieta is located in the United States
Pieta
Pieta
Pieta (the United States)
Coordinates: 38°55′36″N 123°03′19″W / 38.92667°N 123.05528°W / 38.92667; -123.05528
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyMendocino County
Elevation
[1]
476 ft (145 m)

Pieta is an archaic placename, former crossroads, and former railroad depot in Mendocino County, California.[1] It is located near the mouth of Pieta Creek 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Hopland,[2] at an elevation of 476 feet (145 m).[1]

A post office, located on the east side of the San Francisco and North Pacific railroad tracks,[3] operated at Pieta from 1891 to 1897.[2] The name allegedly honors a local Native American chief.[2] In 1891 a toll road was built at Pieta that led to Lake County.[4] In 1896 the California Camera Club planned an outing to Pieta to photograph the "picturesque" scenery.[5] In the 1900s, Hopland and Pieta were rivals for the traffic that came with mail delivery and stage service.[6] Pieta was the rail stop for travelers to Bartlett Springs spa, which offered "medicinal soda magnesia baths".[7] Stages connected from Pieta to Bartlett Springs, Highland Springs, Kelseyville, Soda Bay, and Lakeport.[8] At least one proposed-but-never-built railroad through Lake County intended to use the Pieta stage stop as a terminus and then follow the old stage route along Pieta Creek.[9]

San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad - The Donohue Broad-Gauge Route
  1. ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Pieta, California
  2. ^ a b c Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 122. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
  3. ^ "Record Group 28: Records of the Post Office DepartmentSeries: Reports of Site Locations California: Mendocino - Modoc NAID: 68230398".
  4. ^ "History of Mendocino and Lake counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading, men and women of the counties who have been identified with ... c.1". HathiTrust. pp. 90–91. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  5. ^ "Camera Club Outing". San Francisco Chronicle. August 9, 1896. p. 26. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  6. ^ "Pieta Is Again Formidable Rival". Ukiah Dispatch Democrat. August 2, 1907. p. 1. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  7. ^ "Bartlett Springs". Oakland Tribune. June 14, 1910. p. 10. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  8. ^ "The Oakland Times 28 Apr 1893, page 6". Newspapers.com. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  9. ^ "Lake County's Little Engines That Couldn't". The Press Democrat. November 5, 1995. p. 2. Retrieved October 25, 2023.