According to the Native California Guide (Dolan H. Eargle, Jr., Trees Company Press, San Francisco, 2000.) the peoples who occupied the land that included what we now know as Boyes Hot Springs could have been of the Coast Miwok, Pomo and Patwin language groups.

Many sources claim that Native peoples used the geothermal water for bathing, ritual, and possibly cooking. It’s logical to assume this, but I know of no archeological evidence, or oral history to support it. (This is an admission of ignorance!) However, the authors of We Are the Land, A History of Native California (Damon B. Akins and William J Bauer Jr., University of California Press, 2021) inform us, “To make acorns palatable, women placed the acorn flour into a shallow pit and poured water over it to leach the bitter tannic acid. The process took less time if the water was hot, making hot springs ideal places to process acorns,” acorns being a staple of the diet for many California Native peoples. (Professor. Bauer is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes.)

The first European to exploit the hot waters for commercial use was Andreas Hoeppner, the music teacher to General Vallejo’s children. In exchange for his lessons, Vallejo gave Hoeppner some acreage that included the hot springs.  In 1847 Hoeppner advertised his Annenthal “resort” in the San Francisco Call, assuring the public that “this spring has been inspected by medical gentlemen…” Hoeppner’s enterprise was short lived. Real estate transactions were often shady, and records are sparse or confusing. At any rate, Thaddeus Leaventworth was the next owner of the springs land (which he received from Vallejo). He had come to California with Steveson’s Regiment in 1847 to engage in the war with Mexico. He also made an attempt to commercialize the hot water, again short lived. In 1885 Leaventworth sold the part of his land with the springs to Henry Boyes, a world jaunting ex-Indian Navy captain.

Construction on the Bath House started in the 1890s, under the ownership of Boyes and partners, and continued for decades under subsequent owners. The conglomeration of buildings eventually covered more than twenty thousand square feet, situated along Sonoma Creek at Pine Avenue.

The complex included a garage, livery stables, tents, a movie theater, a dance hall, and a casino. The main pool measured seventy-five by one hundred feet and was fed with geothermal water. At various times athletes from the Oakland Oaks, San Francisco Seals, and Oakland Raiders trained and relaxed at the resort. Generations of Sonoma Valley folks learned to swim there, and people from all over the world enjoyed the waters.

The Bath House burned down in 1969, essentially ending the resort era in Sonoma Valley.

The Bath House is gone, but it was well documented. Here is a slideshow sampling.

Index Tribune and many photographs courtesy of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society.