When travelers glanced back as they left Adams Station in Del Norte County, Calif., they were likely to see Mary Adams waving goodbye.
As early as the 1880s, Adams was catering to the needs of stage travelers on the old Grants Pass to Crescent City wagon road. She had first homesteaded 20 acres along the Smith River near
Gasquet, then paid for another 100 acres. She and neighbor Peter Peacock married and ran Adams Station for more than 50 years.
Adams was a good friend of Horace Gasquet who also provided hospitality to travelers. Many of the furnishings of Adams Station came from Gasquet.
Adams had every guest sign the guest book. The memories that people wrote about were those of good food, soft beds, and Peacock’s colorful stories. Some guests said that his language was unrepeatable, but the way he wrapped his profanity into stories somehow made it acceptable.
Eventually horse-drawn stages gave way to motorized coaches that brought travelers and tourists to the Adam’s Smith River Station. Before Mary died in 1942, the buses were sleek Greyhounds whizzing along Highway 199, but still stopping at Adams Station.
Source: Hawk, Diane. Touring the Old Redwood Highway: Del Norte County. Piercy, CA: Hawk Mountaintop Publishing, 2006. 99-100. Print.
