Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony
The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony is believed to be the first permanent Japanese settlement in North America and the only settlement by samurai outside of Japan. The group was made up of 22 people from samurai families during the Boshin Civil War (1868–69) in Japan preceding the Meiji Restoration. The group purchased land from Charles Graner family in the Gold Hill region after coming to San Francisco in 1869. Though the group was able to successfully show their produce during the 1869 California State Agricultural Fair in Sacramento and the 1870 Horticultural Fair in San Francisco, the farm as a Japanese colony only existed between 1869 and 1871. Okei Ito, the first known Japanese woman to be buried on American soil, has her grave on the land. The Veerkamp family purchased the farm following the withdrawal of financial support from financier Matsudaira Katamori (1835–93). In 1969, the same year as the Japanese American centennial, Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, proclaimed the colony to be California Historical Landmark No. 815. The family preserved the heritage of the farm and Okei's grave for 137 years until the American River Conservancy purchased the land in November 2010, with the National Park Service placing the site on the National Register of Historic Places at a level of "national significance". American River Conservancy offers private and public tours of the property, including Okei Ito's gravesite.
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Cold Springs Road,
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Latitude | Longitude |
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N 38.770894 ° | E -120.886783 ° |
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Cold Springs Road
Cold Springs Road
95613
California, United States
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