A patriotic red, white and blue water tower, a soothing cascading water feature downtown and a stone chimney standing sentry in a vineyard together provide another piece to what makes the Napa Valley what it is.

These three icons are clues for this month’s “Where In The Napa Valley?”

Water tower on Monticello Road

It was just after 9/11 that Hank and Linda Bathey decided to build the three-story, patriotic water tower that faces Monticello Road, just east of Silverado Trail.

The tower is not only a tribute to the United States troops serving abroad, but also is the fire protection source for Bathey’s property that surrounds the water tower.

Bathey brought the bought the property in 2001, moving from Castro Valley.

“I have friends in Napa and initially was just looking for a place for the weekend. My wife passed away and I decided to just make a clean break and move permanently to Napa when I retired from the airline business,” Bathey said.

He met his now wife, Linda. They were married and went to work building their homestead at 1122 Monticello Road. The property has nine buildings on it, including the water tower, the main home and a guest house.

The red, white and blue painted water tower was a necessity, according to Bathey.

“We didn’t have a water source for fire protection. I was told I would have to put a sprinkler system in the buildings. I chose not to do that because the buildings have hardwood floors and expensive furnishings that would be ruined if they were damaged by a sprinkler system,” Bathey said.

As an alternative to the sprinkler system, Bathey built the patriotic water tower.

The top floor houses the 3,000-gallon water tank for fire protections. The second floor is used to store holiday decorations.

The Batheys decorate for each holiday, highlighting Christmas.

“This year we had more than 250,000 Christmas lights on the buildings on our property. We won the Register’s contest for the best decorated house,” Bathey said.

The bottom floor is where the tanks for the water system are located, along with work benches.

“We are very patriotic people, my wife and I,” Bathey said. “Before we built the water tower, Linda painted one of the other buildings red, white and blue to see what it would look like. We really liked it and decided to follow the theme with the water tower.”

The tower sports an American and California state flags. There is also a sign near the top of the tower that says “We support President Bush and our troops.

Bathey said the water tower has been featured in a coffee table book about the Napa Valley.



Courthouse water fountain

The cascading water that tumbles over the fountain next to the county criminal courthouse in downtown Napa was meant to bring a pleasing, soothing sound for the bustling plaza on the corner of Third and Main streets.

It was built to accentuate the  modern three-story courthouse, which was completed in late 1998. The sleek structure was designed by Ross, Drulis and Cusenbery Architects out of Sonoma.

“The entire project took 18 months to two years to complete,” said Michael Ross, chief principal with the firm.

The exterior of the fountain is Sierra white granite from Yosemite, Ross said. “It is the same material used the turn of the century in the civic buildings in San Francisco, such as city hall.

The interior of the 10-by- 10-foot water fountain is constructed from split-face absolute granite, Ross said.

“We thought the fountain created a visual point from the county historic courthouse across the street. It activates the plaza,” Ross said.

“The water is recycled and spills about 10,000 gallons a day from the bubbling top to the trough below.

The exterior of the courthouse is also made of Sierra white granite. It is connected to the county jail about a half block away by an underground tunnel system.

The courthouse was designed to provide soothing and pleasant views of the plaza, the historic courthouse and surrounding hills for those who often spends hours waiting around the courthouse.

The bottom of the fountain is sprinkled with an assortment of coins, mostly pennies.

“I have heard that every coin thrown in there is suppose to bring good luck,” Ross said.

Chimney in vineyard

Napa Valley Register reader Brenda Blackard had no trouble identifying the rock chimney — her great, great granfather Gottlieb Buhn, lived in the wood-frame house.

Buhn moved into the Napa home after immigrating here from Germany with his wife and children. The couple raised six daughters and a son in the house.

Before coming to Napa, the Buhns spent a short time living in San Francisco, before arriving in the valley on a ferry and moving into the house.

The Buhns moved to Napa in about 1888 and into the Coombsville house sometime in the 1890s, according to Blackard.

Back then the house was surrounded by fruit trees.

The rock chimney is all that remains of the home.

It seems the house was destroyed in a fire in the 1950s. And all that remains of the residence today is the rock chimney.

Curious motorists can see the chimney along Coombsville Road, on a hill looking down on Silverado Middle School.

Longtime Napan, Dick Lonergan, recalled the property was once next to a turkey ranch — possibly as late as the 1960s.

Lonergan, a former Napa County Under Sheriff, an encyclopedia of Napa knowledge, did not know a lot about the chimney. But, he  came up with the name of Marvin Fagundes, who led me to Ming Wong.

Wong lived on the property next to where the lone standing chimney is. He and his brother had a five-acre turkey ranch next to that property until the late 1950s on Coombsville Road.

“(The house) it burned down after I came back from Korea ... so that would have been around 1956.

“There used to be an almond orchard on the top of the hill,” Wong said.

Across the road from the lone chimney and former turkey ranch was a dairy operated by Paul Lewis. “He came here with nothing more than a suitcase. He is no longer with us today,” Wong said.Wong, 75, is also a longtime Napan. He was born in Stockton and moved here when he was in kindergarten.

“People say I don’t look 75, but I sure feel it sometimes,” Wong said with a chuckle.

His roots date back to the Lincoln School on Main Street, which is only a memory today.

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