Sunol Valley

Sunol (Spanish: Suñol) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Alameda County, California. Located in the Sunol Valley of the East Bay, the population was 913 at the 2010 census. It is best known as the location of the Sunol Water Temple and for its historic tourist railroad system, the Niles Canyon Railway.

The Niles Canyon Railway (NCRy) is a heritage railway running on the first transcontinental railroad alignment (1866, 1869) through Niles Canyon, between Sunol and the Niles district of Fremont in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States. The railway is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Niles Canyon Transcontinental Railroad Historic District. The railroad is operated and maintained by the Pacific Locomotive Association which preserves, restores and operates historic railroad equipment. The NCRy features public excursions with both steam and diesel locomotives along a well-preserved portion of the first transcontinental railroad.

Arroyo de la Laguna is a 7.5-mile-long (12.1 km) southward-flowing stream in Alameda County, California, United States which originates at the confluences of South San Ramon Creek and Arroyo Mocho. The Arroyo de la Laguna is fed by tributaries in the Amador Valley and certain eastern slope drainages of the Diablo Range; these tributaries include Arroyo Valle and Sinbad Creek. Arroyo del la Laguna is the major tributary to Alameda Creek which in turn flows into the San Francisco Bay. From prehistoric times much of the eastern part of the Amador Valley consisted of a lake known as Tulare Lake. With development of the valley starting in the 19th century, drainage alterations in this watershed reduced the lake to a watercourse now called the Arroyo de la Laguna.

The Sunol Water Temple is located at 505 Paloma Way in Sunol, California. Designed by Willis Polk, the 59 foot high classical pavilion is made up of twelve concrete Corinthian columns and a concrete ring girder that supports the conical wood and tile roof. Inside the temple, water originally from the Pleasanton well fields and Arroyo de la Laguna flowed into a white tiled cistern before plunging into a deeper water channel carrying water from the filter galleries to the Niles Aqueduct in Niles Canyon and across San Francisco Bay near the Dumbarton Bridge. The ceiling of the temple has panels with paintings by Yun Gee and other artists depicting a Native American maiden carrying water vessels, and women in classical poses. The temple is open to the public Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Thomas Foxwell Bachelder Barn is a historical building in Sunol, California, The Thomas Foxwell Bachelder Barn was built in 1888. The Thomas Foxwell Bachelder Barn was listed to the National Register of Historic Places on April 15, 1994. The Thomas Foxwell Bachelder Barn is a 2+1⁄2-story, stone building at the bottom of a hill in rural setting of Sunol. The barn was built from stones cut from Sinbad Creek, across the street from the barn. In the creek are still some stonecutter's marks in rocks. The stones are rough cut, with no finishing work. The agricultural building was built with 36 inch think stone walls. The barn served the 900-acre Bachelder farm. The farm was part of the 2,108-acre Bachelder Rancho that was as subdivided in 1884. The only other remains of the farm are two stone-lined cisterns and the stone foundations of a bridge and an old house. The barn was sold to its current owners in 1975. By 1975, the barn had been vacant for years and was dilapidated, as most of the wood parts of the barn were in very poor condition or missing. At that time the barn still had it original dirt first story dirt floor. The new owner converted the 1888 barn into a home and had it seismic retrofitting. It was listed, as it one of the five most important buildings from Sunol's early years. The other buildings being: the Sunol Water Temple, Elliston, the old Congregational Church, and the Apperson House. Bachelder was born in 1834 in Maine. In Maine, Bachelder studied law and was a lawyer in Maine. He came to in California in 1864 and practiced law in San Francisco. He slowly bought up 2,108 acres of land in Sunol along the Sinbad Creek and planted 350 acres of orchards. Later, in the 1910s he sold the farm and returned to law in Oakland. Bachelder donated some of his land for the local Congregational Church of Sunol. In 1954, the church was painted brown and renamed The Little Brown Church of Sunol. Bachelder built the town's hotel, Hazel Glen, which he sold in 1890, and burned down 1910. Bachelder built the Kilkare Road in town. In 1884, Bachelder did a subdivision of his land, thus became the founder of the City of Sunol. Nearby is Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park.

Scotts Corner (formerly, Scott's Corner) is an unincorporated community in Alameda County, California. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) east-southeast of Sunol, at an elevation of 259 feet (79 m). The name is in honor of Thomas Scott, Sr., who opened a store here in the 1850s.

Ridgelands Regional Park is a future regional park to be developed in Pleasanton, CA by the East Bay Regional Park District. The concept is expected to be developed over many years; the core has already been put in place as the Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, a 5,200-acre (21 km2) park west of Pleasanton and north of Sunol, that overlooks Pleasanton and the Livermore Valley from the west.

Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park is a 5,271-acre (21.33 km2) park in the East Bay Regional Park District overlooking Pleasanton, California and the Livermore Valley to the east. The park is scheduled to grow by almost 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) (sic) with the acquisition of the Tyler Ranch.

The Golden Gate Railroad Museum (reporting mark GGMX) is a non-profit railroad museum in California that is dedicated to the preservation of steam and passenger railroad equipment, as well as the interpretation of local railroad history.

The Pacific Locomotive Association, Inc. (PLA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the physical aspects and atmosphere of Pacific Coast railroading during the period from 1910 to 1960. The Pacific Locomotive Association operates the Niles Canyon Railway, and has railroad artifacts on display in the Niles Depot Museum in Fremont, California. It also owns a collection of locomotives and other railroad cars, with restorations complete or in progress.

Verona is an unincorporated community in Alameda County, California. It is located on the Western Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads 2.25 miles (3.6 km) north of Sunol, at an elevation of 315 feet (96 m).

Brightside (formerly, Brightside Station) is an unincorporated community in Alameda County, California. It is located 2.25 miles (3.6 km) west of Sunol.