Belmont is celebrating 100 years as an incorporated city. The city held its signature Centennial Fest on Oct. 24, with a vintage car parade, a time capsule ceremony, a festival in Twin Pines Park and a drone show featuring art by Belmont youth. The city of about 28,000 has also asked residents to host 100 community celebrations during the centennial year.
Parks and open space
According to the Redwood City Pulse, Belmont has 14 developed parks on 31 acres, plus 337 acres of open space.
- Twin Pines Park has playgrounds, walking paths, a creek and picnic areas. It is also home to the Belmont Historical Society’s History Room and the Twin Pines Art Center, which is housed in the 1908 Manor House.
- Waterdog Lake & Open Space has wooded canyon trails and a lake named after a local salamander. On-leash dogs are allowed.
- Hidden Canyon Park has trails with sweeping Peninsula views. The trailhead is tucked into a residential neighborhood.
History stops
- Ralston Hall Mansion, on the Notre Dame de Namur University campus, was built in 1868 as Bank of America founder William Chapman Ralston’s country house. The National Historic Landmark has been closed to the public since 2012 over seismic concerns, but you can view it from the outside.
- The Jack London marker in Carlmont Village marks where London worked in the laundry of the Belmont Military Academy in 1897, before the Klondike Gold Rush.
- Emmett House, a Victorian from the late 1800s, was moved to O’Neill Street in 2008. The Pulse reports the city recently listed it for sale.
The Pulse says the History Room is open Nov. 8 from 1 to 4 p.m. and reopens Jan. 10. Earlier in the centennial month, volunteer historian Chuck Cotten led a free walking tour covering the city’s flower farms, speakeasies and Olympians, according to the city.