Tucked away amid
California’s famous wine country, Silverado Resort has retained the elegance and
sophistication of days past.
The heart of the Resort is the mansion, which has stood for over 100 years and is still an
integral part of the property’s operation. Both the mansion and the property possess
a history that is as romantic as it is interesting. Salvador Vallejo, brother of General
Mariano G. Vallejo, was the owner of the acreage where Silverado now stands. The property
was then known as Rancho Yajome. One historical version says that General Vallejo gave the
property as a wedding present to his daughter when she became the bride of General John C.
Frisbie.
In later years, General John Franklin Miller, an Indiana native with a colorful military
and political career, acquired several parcels of Silverado’s present 1,200 acres
over a period of time from different grantors, including the United States and the state
of California. Deeds of Miller’s acquisitions are dated 1869, 1873 and 1881.
Having lived in Napa as a young attorney and served as Treasurer of Napa County in the mid
1850's, Miller was familiar with the area and its rolling hills, wide meadowlands and
sparkling Milliken Creek winding across the Valley floor. General Miller named his new
estate La Verge after a battle he fought in the Civil War.
Miller and his wife planned both the landscaping of the grounds and the design of the
mansion. It incorporated Italian and French architecture that the Millers had seen during
their travels abroad and contained 14 rooms, four of which were bedrooms with baths and
marbled-faced fireplaces.
According to legend, an old Spanish adobe stood on the property when construction of the
stately mansion began in the early 1870's. Miller believed an ancient superstition that
ill fortune would come to whomever destroyed the adobe, so it is said that he ordered the
mansion to be built around it. As the story goes, the adobe is contained in the southwest
section of the residence’s first story, and the three-foot thick walls in that part
of the building lend credence to the tale.
Mary Eudora Miller, General Miller’s daughter, eventually inherited the mansion and
estate. During her residence, the home played host to such distinguished guests as
President Theodore Roosevelt and General John J. Pershing. In 1932, the property was sold
to Mrs. Vesta Peak Maxwell, who in 1953 sold it to the Silverado Land Company. This was
when the official name of Silverado was born.
The mansion was converted to a clubhouse and the estate was operated as a semi-private
golf club until 1966, when the property was purchased by Westgate Development Company and
American Factors of Honolulu. The resort is now privately owned by Silverado Napa Corp.
and operated by Xanterra Resorts. |