Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony

The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony was a group of 22 samurai and their families led by Prussian John Henry Schnell during the Boshin Civil War (1868–69) in Japan preceding the Meiji Restoration. The group purchased land from Charles Graner family in the Gold Hill region after coming to San Francisco in 1869. Though the group was able to successfully show their produce during the 1869 California State Agricultural Fair in Sacramento and the 1870 Horticultural Fair in San Francisco, the farm as a Japanese colony only existed between 1869 and 1871.

Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony

The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony was a group of 22 samurai and their families led by Prussian John Henry Schnell during the Boshin Civil War (1868–69) in Japan preceding the Meiji Restoration. The group purchased land from Charles Graner family in the Gold Hill region after coming to San Francisco in 1869. Though the group was able to successfully show their produce during the 1869 California State Agricultural Fair in Sacramento and the 1870 Horticultural Fair in San Francisco, the farm as a Japanese colony only existed between 1869 and 1871.