Long Hikers

A bit late to the party but here's the story of how Tennessee Valley got it's name.

The Wreck of the SS Tennessee and Its Namesake Cove on the Marin County Coast

The "S.S. Tennessee" was a steamship that ran aground on March 6, 1853. All 550 passengers climbed safely onto the beach, and fourteen chests of gold were salvaged before the ship broke up. The cove they were in was named ‘Tennessee Cove’. Remnants of the ship can still be seen during low tide during some winter days on the south end of the beach.

The Wreck of the S.S. Tennessee

by Allan G. Smorra

"She was a favorite craft and one of the best sea boats that plowed the Pacific ocean. She was the home, the pride and the refuge of her officers and crew, and many a tear as salt as the brine that surrounds her shattered hull has coursed unbidden from manly eyes and sprung up involuntarily from the bold and courageous hearts of those whose pride and delight she was, as they have gazed on the last resting place of the gallant Tennessee. —Daily Alta California, March 9, 1853

The early morning hours of March 6, 1853 saw a thick fog settle in along the coast of Northern California as the S.S. Tennessee steamed towards the entrance to San Francisco Bay, some 100 miles away. Approaching from the South, after leaving Panama on February 19th, Captain E. Mellus continued on using dead reckoning to reach Mile Rock, about 2 miles Southwest of the Golden Gate.

What Capt. Mellus did not realize was that he had passed Mile Rock in the fog during the night and was turning East, sailing not into San Francisco Bay but into Indian Cove, nestled in the Marin Headlands. The fog lifted in time for the Captain to see land and realize that it was not Mile Rock. The horse-shoe shape of the cove made it impossible to back up and turn around so Capt. Mellus ran the Tennessee aground on the beach and removed 550 passengers, personal effects, cargo and mail from the ship in hopes that a higher tide would assist him in getting the ship afloat.

Some people went ashore where they set up tents and others boarded two waiting ships, the Goliah and the Confidence. There were no injuries during this evacuation, in fact the passengers lauded the Captain and his crew for their, “…coolness, good judgement and entire competency…”.

Unfortunately, during the night rolling waves came in, lifting the Tennessee up and dashing it down on the sandy bottom of Indian Cove. The next morning it was discovered that the ship’s back was broken and it had taken on water.

The area where the Tennessee ran aground and broke apart was re-named in her honor. We know it as Tennessee Cove and it is part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. According to the GGNPC’s web site, “Coordinate your visit with a low tide and seasonal sand alignments to see the engine of the shipwrecked SS Tennessee.”