The name of this East Contra Costa County city traces back not to a city council vote or a founder's decree, but to a friendly game of cards.
Unable to settle a dispute over what to name this East Contra Costa County town, two settlers did what any reasonable person might: they played cribbage.
The marshy, peat-rich Delta soil stretching from the Antioch Bridge east to Bethel Island proved ideal for growing the crop, and for a time the area dominated asparagus production in the state. The name of this East Contra Costa County city traces back not to a city council vote or a founder's decree, but to a friendly game of cards.
Carol Jensen, a historian with the East Contra Costa Historical Society and author of "Oakley Through Time," recounts how one of the town's founders, Randolph Marsh, purchased roughly 20 acres in what is nowMarsh, who would later become a county supervisor – and a fellow settler named Joel Wightman – couldn't agree on what to call the new community. Wightman wanted to name it after Admiral George Dewey, hero of the Spanish-American War. Marsh had his heart set on Oakley.
Unable to settle the dispute any other way, the two men did what any reasonable settler might: they played cribbage.
"They admired the beautiful oak meadows in this area — beautiful California and live oaks," Jensen said. In Scotland, she explained, an oak meadow is called an "oak leigh.
" Local perspective: The region's identity would later be shaped by something else entirely: asparagus. The marshy, peat-rich Delta soil stretching from the Antioch Bridge east to Bethel Island proved ideal for growing the crop, and for a time the area dominated asparagus production in the state. That era came to an abrupt end when a levee just east of what is now the Antioch Bridge catastrophically failed.
The breach was so severe it could never be repaired, and water poured in permanently — transforming prime farmland into open water. Today, that flooded landscape is Big Break Regional Park, an East Bay Regional Park District facility known for fishing and Delta recreation. It is also where Jensen shared the story of how a card game — and a Scotsman's word for oak meadow — gave Oakley its name.
Carol Jensen, a historian with the East Contra Costa Historical Society and author of "Oakley Through Time. "
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