Visalia, County seat in San Joaquin Valley, California.
Visalia is a city in California's San Joaquin Valley that serves as the seat of Tulare County and sits at the western edge of the Sierra Nevada foothills. Streets run in a grid through residential and commercial districts, surrounded by flat farmland that stretches in every direction.
A settlement formed here in the 1850s and grew into a trade center for surrounding farms over the following decades. During the American Civil War, the army stationed troops in town to manage tensions between residents holding different loyalties.
The town takes its name from a small settlement Nathaniel Vise started in the mid-1800s, though the spelling changed when it became an official place. Locals today drive wide streets lined with valley oaks, trees that were common here before farms and neighborhoods took over much of the land.
Downtown can be walked easily, with shops and restaurants along Main Street and nearby blocks. Mooney Grove Park lies a few miles east of the center and offers space to walk among old trees.
A local ordinance from 1971 protects oak trees across the city and prevents them from being removed without permission. Some of these trees have stood for over a century and still shape the look of neighborhoods today.
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