Tennessee Valley for kids
The Shipwreck in the Fog. A true story near Tamalpais Valley, CA, told for kids 3-12.
Read along
Down this road is a valley that ends at a tiny beach. And this valley is named after a ship! A long time ago, in the Gold Rush, a big steamship called the Tennessee was trying to sail into the Golden Gate. But the fog was thick, thick, thick. The captain couldn't see anything!
Arr! The fog was thick as pea soup, it was! Couldn't see me own nose! The ship missed the Golden Gate and sailed into the wrong little cove. Crunch!
It got stuck on the beach. But here's the amazing part. Every single person on that ship got off safely, more than five hundred people! And they even carried a big treasure of gold to shore. And if you walk to that beach when the tide is really, really low, you can sometimes still see pieces of the old ship's engine, poking out of the sand.
Quiz the back seat
When the ship Tennessee crashed, how many people got hurt?
Show the answer
Nobody!. Nobody! Every single person made it to the beach safely.
3 fun facts
- The SS Tennessee ran aground here in fog on March 6, 1853.
- All of the roughly 550 people aboard survived.
- Bits of its engine still show at very low tide.
For grown-ups
Written by the Tumbly team, then checked claim by claim against the sources below before it was published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
More stories in Tamalpais Valley
Roads
Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).