Before the Piedmont Hotel was built, Mark Twain visited the Piedmont Springs while on a lecture tour in Oakland in 1868. Photographer Eadweard Muybridge recorded this visit in front of the gazebo-covered spring. Twain is holding a cup of mineral water. The restored faux grotto in Piedmont Park is located at the spot where Mark Twain was once photographed. The lower grotto was built on the site of the original wood gazebo. From the article on patch.com By Charles Burress, Pat

"Under Miss Nace's supervision and management, Piedmont Canyon became beautiful Piedmont Park" Overland Monthly 1915-06: Vol 65 Iss 6, p...

While taking a break from researching Piedmont, I started looking into the history of another beautiful park in our area, the Rose Garden...

Updates: I scanned more photos and added them to the Blair Park page (and the blog post before this one), Piedmont Park's page (new maze,...

“Oakland’s Deserted Park” By ARTHUR LEWIS Oakland Tribune – Sun - Oct. 15, 1916 Before Oakland had any electric cars, its street railway...