Musings on Drawbridge by Brenna Silbory

17 May 2014
Drawbridge is more than a ghost town. It is a story of California in miniature. Its very name depicts its status as an interruption — a bridge in motion, a transient connection. ~ Brenna Silbory
Drawbridge, California

Drawbridge, California. Photo courtesy Wikipedia. Copyright CC-BY 2.0

Brenna Silbory, a lifelong California resident and outdoor enthusiast, took a tour of the ghost town of Drawbridge, CA on Saturday May 3, 2014 with Ceal Craig, long time volunteer at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and also member of the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society. Brenna's musings on the trip to a forgotten part of the Bay Area found a place on her blog At the Flourishing Edge: Limning and Living in the Human Settlement of Silicon Valley.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducts a Drawbridge Van Excursion led by Ceal Craig on a periodic basis. Nestled on an island in the salt marshes of South San Francisco Bay, the town of Drawbridge once boomed and is abandoned today.

Attendees meet at the Environmental Education Center, 1751 Grand Blvd. in Alviso, to start with a slideshow of the town’s history before making the trip to view it across Coyote Creek. Attendees do not visit the town itself. Tour guide Ceal Craig takes attendees to the closest spot that one can legally view Drawbridge through spotting scopes at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

If you are interested in a tour of Drawbridge, the Wildlife Society has two of them coming up: Saturday July 26, 2014 from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm (reservations at http://eecdrawbridge.eventbrite.com/) and Saturday August 23, 2014 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 pm (reservations at http://eecdrawbridge2.eventbrite.com/).

The program is intended for adults and space is very limited. Reservations are essential. For more information call Julie at 408-262-5513 extension 104.

You may read more about Drawbridge in Drawbridge, CA Re-turning the Tide by US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Drawbridge: A Ghost Town Revisited by John Steiner, Tideline Fall 2003.