The East Bay Walls, also known as the

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Mystery Walls, are a misnomer, as many such walls can be found throughout the hills surrounding the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, and extend as far as Chico, Red Bluff and Montague. In places, they are up to a meter high and a meter wide and are built without mortar. The walls extend anywhere from a few meters to over a half mile. Materials range in size from

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-size to sandstone boulders weighing a ton or more. Parts of the wall seem to be just piles of rocks, while other walls were carefully constructed. The exact age of the walls is unknown. Many formations have sunk far into the earth, and are often completely overgrown.

Purpose

The walls are fragmented and do not appear to be fences. They are not tall enough to provide defensive barriers. The

East Bay Regional Park District The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a Special-purpose district, special district operating in Alameda County, California, Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay (California), East Bay area of the San Fra ...

calls them "rock walls". Livestock have grazed in the east and south Bay Area hills since the arrival of European settlers. Clearing land of scattered rocks would have eased the ability to move herds. Constructing walls would have helped to guide or corral the animals.

Origin

No written documentation exists to identify when they were built, by whom, or why. Due to their large extent and the time and manpower required to build them, the walls may have been built by the

Ohlone The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the l ...

. Recent lichen testing suggests that they were built between 1850 and 1880, the early American era in California. European settlers could have built the walls using Chinese, Mexican, or Native American laborers.

Locations

The stone walls are accessible in several area parks, including

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in Santa Clara County and

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in Alameda County. As of 2016, archaeologist Jeffrey Fentress was measuring and mapping the walls to achieve protection from development or other destruction. Stone walls with unclear origin occur in other places near the San Francisco Bay.

References

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External links

Uncovering the Real Story Behind the 'East Bay Mystery Walls'
on

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Bay Curious Archaeological sites in California History of the San Francisco Bay Area Buildings and structures in Berkeley, California