Historic Site Now City Park

Indians once sat in this circle of rocks and cooked their meals before the fire-hollowed stones in the center. This camp is included in the property off Redwood Road which has been presented to the City of Oakland as a park. It will be left as an exhibit.

Robin D. McCrea, who is giving the acreage to the city as a memorial to his father, the late George E. McCrea, points to one of the many places around the camp where the Indians ground their flour.-Tribune photos.

[This is where Holy Names College is, now. - MF]

Ancient Indian Camp Given to Oakland By Robin McCrea

One of Oakland's little known historical spots, a hilltop section where Indians camped and where the Spanish padres took their messages to the aborigines, has been presented to the city as a park.

The property, between four and five acres off Redwood Road near Mountain Boulevard, has been given to Oakland by Robin D. McCrea, San Francisco engineer, and will serve as a memorial to his father, the late George E. McCrea, well-known Bay area architect.

McCrea Sr., who died last May, bought the property, then 20 acres, in 1908. Previously it had belonged to two different owners, each of whom lived there a quarter of a century, and before that had been part of the Rancho de San Antonio of the Peraltas.

ANCIENT CAMP SITE

The acreage, cut with paths which had their origin in the water trails of the Indians, includes a camp - a rock-bound circle - where the Indians had their council fires and cookery.

The rocks, blackened by smoke and pitted with mortar wells where the acorn flour was ground, will be left as they are for a historical exhibit.

A chapel, where padres from Mission San Jose held services for the Indians and under which a priest is said to be buried, also will be included in the park.

TO RESTORE CHAPEL

The chapel was converted into a dining room when McCrea added on to the buildings after he bought the property, but will be removed from the house and restored to its original form, according to E. M. Sanborn, forester in charge of field operations for the Oakland Park Department.

The property, heavily wooded, probably will be cleared out, but will be otherwise left as it was when Indians first camped on the hilltop. According to an early history of the grounds, the red man could command the entire landscape in every direction from his camp there and could sight an approaching enemy long before an attack could possibly begin.

When his father took the property, he found relics of the Indian and of the padre, McCrea said. A two-room cabin which antedated the chapel, and a house which had been used by a branch of the old Peralta family also were still standing. The deed to the property lists it as part of the Peralta grant.

HOUSE DEVELOPED

The house, which under McCrea Sr.'s direction grew from a narrow "farmhouse" into a charming, rambling eight or nine room home, has been sold to William D. Schulte, who now lives at 3581 Jordan Road, and will not be included in the park.

Robin McCrea, who spent his childhood in the house, now lives at 465 Marina Boulevard, San Francisco. He is owner of the McCrea Engineering Company.