The History of Oakland’s Expansive Joaquin Miller Park

 John Beall is an Alameda, California chiropractor who leads Rise Bodyworks and offers more than 25 years of experience in health, fitness, and rehabilitation. An outdoor enthusiast who enjoys activities such as mountain biking, John Beall explores scenic locales in the Bay Area in his free time.

One of Oakland’s most historic nature reserves, Joaquin Miller Park, reflects the legacy of a man who, visiting the area in 1870, met the city’s first public librarian and the state’s first Poet Laureate, Ina Coolbrith. It was she who convinced Cincinnatus Hiner Miller to take the name “Joaquin” and stake out a claim as “poet of the Sierras.”

Returning to Oakland in the mid 1880s, Joaquin Miller acquired 70 grassy hillside acres, parcel by parcel, and set about creating a retreat that both would serve as a home and inspire visiting artists. Before passing away in 1913, he had also created dwellings for mother and daughter and arranged the planting of 75,000 trees, ranging from eucalyptus to Monterey cypress.

With the Oakland Parks Department purchasing 68 acres of the property in 1919 (under the stipulation that the Millers’ could live out their lives there) the park was gradually expanded to its current size of 500 acres. This was primarily accomplished through the efforts of the Save the Redwoods League, which was determined to protect key redwood groves from logging.

Today, for cyclists, Joaquin Miller Park trails have a vital role in connecting to Dimond Canyon Park on the downhill side and to the Bay Area Ridge Trail and the Redwood and Roberts East Bay Regional Parks on the uphill side. This allows expansive trail rides throughout the East Bay that largely avoid paved roads.