Granite Bay's motto is "A great place to live, work and play" and the residents here take full advantage of all their hometown has to offer. The unincorporated Placer County community of Granite Bay has a population of about 20,000 residents and covers an area of approximately 25 square miles. It is situated on the north shore of Folsom Lake about 25 miles northeast of Sacramento on the eastern edge of the Sacramento Valley at the base of the Sierra foothills.
The community boasts of a very high quality of life due to its great location, sound community plan, first rate schools, numerous churches, low crime rates and excellent recreation opportunities. The community is home to some of the Sacramento areas finest and most exclusive homes including a variety of custom-built luxury Spanish-style and Tudor homes.
Recreational opportunities abound in this lovely suburban town. For the equestrian there is a choice of seven different stables including Granite Bay Equestrian Center and Lakeside Equestrian Center. For the avid golfer there is the Granite Bay Golf Club, Rolling Greens and Indian Creek Country Club. If Tennis is your passion the Granite Bay Tennis Club is one of four racquet clubs.
Granite Bay Community Park offers baseball fields, soccer fields, tot lots, a walking trail, a BBQ pavilion, picnic areas, restrooms, snack bar, and bicycle/pedestrian trails on 16.5 acres at the southeast corner of Barton Rd. and Douglas Blvd and is one of five parks of this kind in the area.
Granite Bay is definitely a family-friendly community as evidenced by the variety of parks and family-centered businesses. Warner's Granite Bay Country Day School is a prime example of this. A unique private preschool on a large gated property this school boasts a mini farm, complete with horse, goats and rabbits, individual instruction and a focus on creative and social development often not seen in preschools in other communities.
Granite Bay's roots lead back to the early 1850, when gold miners first settled the banks of the American River. In its earliest beginnings, it was known as "Granite Bar", a small mining camp just below Horseshoe Bar. The North Fork Ditch, built by the Natoma Company between 1852 and 1954, not only allowed miners to surface mine gold, it continued to supply water to the area and attracted settlers who planted olive and almond orchards.
What is now called Auburn-Folsom Road in Granite Bay was built in 1850 to allow miners to travel back and forth with supplies. Whiskey Bar, Horseshoe Bar, and Rattlesnake Bar Roads were all established to connect the various settlements to the bar or to the main road. Granite Bar, later to be known as Granite Bay was named for the granite rock quarried from its banks and used as rip-rap in the wing dams of neighboring Folsom Dam.
In February 2010, the average home sales price for a single family home or condo in Granite Bay was $562,385. While this data is collected from the MLS and deemed reliable, it is not guaranteed.
