View source for Bellvale, California

{{Short description|Unincorporated community in California, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

{{more citations needed|date=March 2018}}
'''Bellvale''' is a populated place in [[San Mateo County, California|San Mateo County]], located at {{Coord|37|18|43|N|122|19|12|W|type:city_region:US-CA|display=inline,title}}. The small community is on [[California State Route 84|Highway 84]] (La Honda Road) between [[San Gregorio, California|San Gregorio]] and [[La Honda, California|La Honda]], at 240 feet above sea level.<ref>[http://lat-long.com/ShowDetail-6309-California-Bellvale.html Bellvale, California: Bellvale, California Latitude and Longitude<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Bellvale was named for the Bell family, who settled in the area in the mid-nineteenth century.  James Bell paid for construction of a schoolhouse in 1869, which served children from nearby La Honda.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dougherty |first=Bob |author-link= |date=2007 |title=La Honda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yV6FoBEfz90C&q=bellvale+san+mateo+county |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |pages=29–31 |isbn=9780738547381}}</ref>  Although Bellvale once had a post office, the community is now only sparsely settled with homes and farms.<ref name="google">{{cite web|url=https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.31194,-122.32&spn=0.1,0.1&t=k&q=37.31194,-122.32 |title=37.31194,-122.32 - Google Maps |publisher=Google Maps|accessdate=2015-01-04}}</ref>  The Bellvale post office, located 2.25 miles west of La Honda, opened in 1897 and was discontinued in 1922.<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic & Modern Names of the State|author=Durham, D.L.|date=1998|publisher=Word Dancer Press|isbn=9781884995149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yfa0hmE7yocC|page=601|accessdate=2015-01-04}}</ref>  U.S. Geological Survey maps show oil wells in the area, tapping a relatively small pool of petroleum that was first identified in the nineteenth century.<ref name="topozone">{{cite web|url=http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lon=-122.3210818&lat=37.3118869&datum=nad83 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011113915/http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lon=-122.3210818&lat=37.3118869&datum=nad83 |archive-date=2012-10-11 |url-status=dead |title=Bellvale USGS La Honda Quad, California, Topographic Map |accessdate=2015-01-04}}</ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{San Mateo County, California}}
{{SF Bay Area}}

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[[Category:Populated coastal places in California]]
[[Category:Unincorporated communities in San Mateo County, California]]
[[Category:Unincorporated communities in California]]


{{SanMateoCountyCA-geo-stub}}