Place Names: How Yulupa got its name From the Press Democrat Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 We pronounce it “Yuh-loopa,” “Why-loopa,” even “Why-yuh-loopa.” It’s one of Sonoma County’s most widespread place names. There’s a Yulupa Avenue and a Yulupa Creek. A Mexican land grant, Rancho Yulupa, encompassed Bennett Valley and was named after a village called yulupa. A Coast Miwok word, yulupa’s meaning centers around things bright and shiny, like crystals, diamonds and the sparkle of sun on water. Yulupa was also the original name for the Golden Gate. What’s the connection? As a version of the story goes, one late afternoon in 1846, John C. Fremont climbed the East Bay hills. Gazing to the west, he saw the setting sun turn the harbor entrance to gold and named it Chrysopylae, Greek for “Golden Gate.” Fremont had no idea how prophetic the name would soon become. Within three years, a flood of humanity was pouring through that gate, lured by the promise of gold. The Gold Rush added another layer of meaning to the place. A Coast Miwok story gives us a glimpse of yulupa’s older mythic connections: Walinapi is a “Hawk-Man,” that is, both a human being and a bird. He is “always in trouble because of women.” When he falls in love with the liwa-yulupa-oas, the “Ocean diamond’s sisters,” and follows them to their home beneath the ocean, their brother (also yulupa) is not too happy about it. Eventually, the girls’ relatives do Walinapi in, though he is soon brought back to life by the magic of his grandfather, O-ye, the “Coyote-Man.” Yulupa, Chrysopylae, Golden Gate — all words for the same place, the same phenomenon, the bright path of sun upon the water. And the stories that go with it. Arthur Dawson is a Glen Ellen-based historical ecologist. You can reach him at baseline@vom.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 16:59:01 +0000
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