Morgan Territory

Morgan Territory Regional Preserve is a regional park in Contra Costa County, California. Located east of Clayton and north of Livermore, California, bordering on Mt. Diablo State Park, it is part of the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD). The preserve was founded in 1975 with fewer than 1,000 acres (400 ha), but EBRPD has gradually acquired more property, and, since 2015, the preserve encompasses 5,230 acres (2,120 ha). The main access roads run from Livermore and Clayton.The preserve was named for Morgan Territory, an historic name for the area associated with Anglo-American pioneer Jeremiah Morgan, who in 1856 acquired thousands of acres on the east side of Mount Diablo and developed a ranch. Popular activities in the park are camping, hiking, horseback riding and picnicking. A reservation is required to use the backpacking campsite. This is not wheelchair accessible. Picnic sites are first come, first served. Dogs are allowed in the preserve and no fee is charged for their admittance.

Round Valley Regional Preserve is a regional park just outside Antioch, CA and Brentwood, CA that is part of the East Bay Regional Parks (EBRPD) system. It is on Marsh Creek Road, approximately 5.2 miles (8.4 km) west of the intersection with Vasco Road. The park was begun in 1988, when Jim Murphy sold 700 acres (280 ha) of land to EBRPD. The land originally belonged to Mr. Davis' grandfather Thomas Murphy, an Irish immigrant, who had purchased the land in 1878 for a farming and ranching operation. The preserve has since expanded to encompass 1,911 acres (773 ha).The Round Valley parking area is one of the two staging areas and points of departure for tour buses that carry passengers into Vasco Caves Regional Preserve. Morgan Territory Regional Preserve adjoins Round Valley Regional Preserve on the Southwest. The park is near the edge of the Diablo Range, and its wooded hills are a sharp contrast with the almost treeless flat land of the Central Valley, which begins a few miles farther east.

Tassajara, a variation of the Spanish word "tasajera" (Spanish for "place where the meat is hung" or "meat drier"), is an unincorporated community in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is located on the east bank of Tassajara Creek, 6.5 miles (10 km) south-southeast of Mount Diablo, at an elevation of 709 feet (216 m). Together with Blackhawk it forms the Blackhawk-Camino Tassajara census designated place (CDP).

The 1980 Livermore earthquake occurred on January 24 at 11:00 PST in California. The epicenter of the 5.8 Mw earthquake was a hilly area 12 km (7.5 mi) southeast of Mount Diablo and north of Livermore Valley. The earthquake had a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Forty four people were injured and damage across the San Francisco Bay Area totaled $11.5 million, with the majority inflicted at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Marsh Creek State Historic Park is a California state park in east Contra Costa County, California, United States. It was named as the newest California State Park on January 27, 2012. The newly named park (formerly called the Cowell Ranch/John Marsh State Park) contains 3,659 acres (1,481 ha; 5.717 sq mi) and is about 3.3 miles (5.3 km) south of downtown Brentwood. The park is named for California pioneer John Marsh (1799–1856), who was a doctor, rancher, landowner and the first non-Hispanic European to settle in what is now Contra Costa County, California. Marsh was the first medical doctor in California, the first Harvard graduate in the territory, the first to introduce a number of new crops, and one of the most influential men in the establishment of California statehood.Marsh, a widower, was a native of Massachusetts, who had previously lived in Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and New Mexico before settling in Los Angeles, California. In 1838, he acquired Rancho Los Meganos in northern California. The ranch covered over 80 square miles (21,000 ha), and extended over 8 miles (13 km) to the San Joaquin River, where Marsh's Landing was built (near present-day Antioch, California). The park covers a portion of this former rancho. Marsh reportedly paid $300 in cowhides for the land. The John Marsh House was added to the National Register of Historic Places (Reference Number 71000136) under Criteria A, B and C on October 7, 1971.The park is significant for many reasons. It represents the Mexican period in California history, it was an important site for the Miwok and other Native American people, it was home of the vaqueros, it was the end point of the California Trail (the first party over the Sierra Nevada came directly to the John Marsh rancho at his invitation), and its archaeological site has produced artifacts going back 7,000 years. It has been identified by the Sacramento Archaeological Society as being the most important archaeological site in the California State Park system.

Camino Tassajara (Spanish for "Path of Carne Seca") is a census-designated place in Contra Costa County, California. Camino Tassajara sits at an elevation of 814 feet (248 m). The 2010 United States census reported Camino Tassajara's population was 2,197.

Marsh Creek Springs was a private recreational facility in Contra Costa County, California. It was developed in 1927 by Gerald L. Gill on 90 acres alongside Marsh Creek. The facility included two swimming pools, wading pools, a livery stable, a dance hall and four baseball diamonds. By 1940 it had grown to cover 210 acres and was able to host 5,000 guests and 1,200 automobiles arriving from all over the Bay Area. In 1957 a flash flood sent a twelve-foot crest of water down Marsh Creek and destroyed the park. It was re-opened that same year but a second flood in 1962 again destroyed the park and it remained closed.

Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 was a Fairchild F27A Friendship airliner that crashed on May 7, 1964, near Danville, California, a suburb east of Oakland. The Thursday morning crash was most likely the first instance in the United States of an airliner's pilots being shot by a passenger as part of a mass murder–suicide. Francisco Paula Gonzales, 27, shot both pilots before turning the gun on himself, causing the plane to crash, killing all 44 aboard.As of May 2021, the crash of Flight 773 remains the worst incident of mass murder in modern California history, one death more than the subsequent Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 hijacking in 1987.

The Stone House of John Marsh is a historic stone house in Contra Costa County, California, built in 1855–56. It is now included in the newly designated Marsh Creek State Park. It has not been officially opened to the public because of safety concerns, but restoration began in 2006 and is continuing as of October 2017.

Brushy Peak, also known as Brushy Knob or Las Cuevas (The Caves), is a summit in Alameda County, California that overlooks the Livermore Valley. North of the valley, it is part of the Diablo Range. It rises to an elevation of 1,686 feet (514 m) and is the location of Brushy Peak Regional Preserve; there are guided tours to the peak itself.Historically, the peak and its immediate surroundings were used for some outdoor events, like picnics.

Las Positas College (LPC) is a public community college in Livermore, California.

Vasco Caves Regional Preserve is a natural and cultural protected area located on the eastern slope of Mount Diablo, on Vasco Road within eastern Contra Costa County, California. It was created to preserve wildlife habitats, California chaparral and woodlands, native plant communities, and Native American rock art.