Captain Weber Home Site & Garden

In 1850, Charles M. Weber built a large two-story redwood and adobe house on Weber Point in the Stockton Channel.  Captain Weber had a longstanding interest in gardening, evident in many of the city beautification projects he undertook, and he surrounded his new home with extensive gardens.  Weber lived in the home with his wife Helen (1822-1895) and their children Charles (1851-1912), Julia (1852-1935), and Thomas (1855-1892).  In 1893 the pioneer home became unlivable due to cumulative damage from the many floods on Weber Point and Julia Weber built a new house adjacent to the adobe mansion.  In 1901, Julia moved her house off Weber Point to her ranch "Helen's Oaks" on West Lane and the Calaveras River.

The old adobe house and the once lavish gardens fell into decay until destroyed by fire in 1917.  In her move to West Lane, Julia transferred several of the original garden plants as well as a kitchen-dining room structure which had originally been a section of the 1850 mansion.  The structure continued to be used for a variety of purposes at "Helen's Oaks" until it was transferred to the museum grounds at Micke Grove Park to become part of an exhibit about Captain Weber.  Willed to the museum by Helen Weber Kennedy, Captain Weber's granddaughter, along with several furnishings from the original home, there is speculation this may have been among the very earliest of structures built in Stockton in the late 1840's.  This remnant of the city founder's home has been restored by the museum to resemble the design of the 1850's structure.  The garden includes several varieties of old roses, a bed of mixed western ferns, herbs such as rosemary, lemon verbena, sage and thyme, geraniums, and assorted annuals and perennials arranged around a re-created gazebo and picket fence, designed from photographic images of the garden and home in the 1850's.  Although Captain Weber's home and garden were much larger than this site, we hope the exhibit will provide you with an idea of the first view of Stockton seen by new settlers and visitors sailing up the Stockton Channel in the 1850's and the gracious atmosphere Captain Weber created amidst a fledgling pioneer settlement.