Terra Linda means “beautiful land” in Portuguese. The family who named the San Rafael valley came from a speck of volcanic rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
That speck is São Jorge. One of nine islands in the Azores, Portugal’s version of Hawaii. It’s nearly a thousand miles from Lisbon. São Jorge is long and narrow with steep cliffs, emerald pastures, and cows. Lots of cows.
Generations of men born there wanted off the island and signed on to be sailors. Yankee whaling ships would cross to the Pacific and stop in San Francisco Bay, including Sausalito’s Whaler’s Cove.
During the Gold Rush, sailors abandoned their ships and headed for the hills to strike it rich. Most never found gold and returned to San Francisco empty-handed…