Town History

Although Yountville was not incorporated until 1965, its boundaries have changed very little since 1874.  During the early part of 1800’s the area that now makes up the Town of Yountville was owned by Mexico. 

In 1831, George Calvert Yount became the first white settler in the Napa Valley.  In 1836, Yount obtained a Spanish land grant from the Mexican government, the first such grant to be awarded to a United States citizen to receive in northern California and the Napa Valley. 

Yount named his land Caymus Rancho after a tribe of Native Americans in the area. It was on this land, in the early 1850,s that Yount laid out the town’s first boundaries.  By 1855, Mr. Yount had surveyor come up to lay out a city which he named Sebastopol, in spite of the fact that there was already a town over the hill with the same name. Two years after his death in 1867, the town was renamed Yountville in honor of its founder and his contributions. The first grape vines in the valley were planted by Yount

By 1868, railroad service had been introduced into the town and influenced the town’s configuration. The coming of the railroad tracks brought in many new comers such as recent immigrant Gottleib Groezinger who in 1870 purchased twenty acres of land (the Gottleib addition) from the Yount estate and by 1874.built a winery, barrel room and distillery. The buildings remained a winery until 1955, but for eleven years lay dormant until it was brought to its present state.

Today the three massive stone buildings are known as Vintage 1870 and house a collection of specialty shops and restaurants. Yountville has many fine shops, restaurants, art galleries and wineries. It is also the home to the only Michelin 3-star restaurant in northern California and boasts two Michelin 1-star restaurants.  Yountville is considered by many food critics to be home to some of the finest restaurants in the world.

2005 Yountville Days Parade
Wells Fargo Stage Coach & G. Yount