Who We Are

We are an association of boaters organized for the purpose of enjoying this remarkable island destination in the San Joaquin Delta. In 1945 a group of boaters organized themselves into a non-profit corporation and acquired clear title to the property that is now known as Grindstone Joe’s. Grindstone Joe’s is private property and is not open to the public. Membership is limited. The association is run by its members only and governed by an elected five member Board of Directors. Located in the heart of the California Delta South of Highway 12 between I5 and Rio Vista near Tower Park Marina. Reachable by boat or car.

Grindstone Joe Association brings together a congenial group of people who share a love of boating and being outdoors. Our membership is represented by boats of all kinds: motor yachts, classic yachts, sailboats, runabouts, bass boats and houseboats.

The Association sponsors five to six organized events each year. During the summer weekend evenings, members can be found gathered on the expansive deck where appetizers are shared, cocktails are enjoyed and jumbo sized JENGA is played while everyone BBQ’s their dinner.

Our History

Joe Atello (or Attel - no one knows for sure), a Chilean in his early thirties, arrived in our Terminous area in a sail-rigged rowboat sometime around the 1906 earthquake.  Joe told boating friends later that he had jumped ship in San Francisco harbor, going AWOL from the Chilean navy, after many years at sea.

With an unknown partner, he netted for sturgeon, bass and catfish on the then-flooded Bouldin Island while establishing squatters' rights on what is now our "island".  When Joe discovered his partner was skimming profits from the sales of fish in Lodi and Stockton Markets, he angrily demanded that the man get out.  The untrustworthy partner left, but not before destroying their indispensable grinding wheel.  The grindstone fragment became a symbol of Joe's integrity and much later the source of our Association's name.  It can be found today permanently mounted on the deck and reproduced on our burgee. 

With net-fishing banned, there was a need to augment his meager income.  By brute strength and stamina he worked with shovel and wheelbarrow to build up his island and, most importantly, create a roadway link between the island and the levee.  He planted trees, the initial flowers and snagged floating timbers to create the first docks which attracted early boaters from the valley and the bay area starting in the late 20's. 

But from all reports Joe was very stern about whom he would allow to dock.  He had rules which he insisted be observed or one could forget about returning.  He disliked sailboats, but loved his three dogs.  Illiterate but intelligent, he was a stickler for good conduct, warning transgressors "If you come back, I cut your line."  He kept his island immaculate and ruled it as a patriarch.  Any boaters who respected that the island was his home had no trouble getting along with him, but those who treated his fief as a public picnic and dumping ground were unceremoniously asked to leave and admonished not to return.  A "benevolent dictator", he was proud of his little kingdom, reportedly taking in no more that $200 total per month from the boaters he deigned to admit to his few docks. 

By 1929, according to extant photos, about nine power boats regularly docked at his island in the summer.  With the onset of WWII his regular visitors from the bay and delta vowed to return, but on July 31, 1944 Joe was stricken on the road to Terminous, died and was buried in Lodi by a few of his friends, Grindstone Joe founders.  Following the war, many of the same boaters returned and organized what later became the Grindstone Joe Association.  They organized the fledgling group into a non-profit corporation and arranged to acquire clear title to our "island" for the sole purpose of R & R, rest and recreation.

Today, Grindstone Joe would appreciate the many improvements made on his land by decades of Grindstoners intent on perpetuating his legacy while respecting his appreciation for nature, the environment and human dignity.

Download The Story of Grindstone Joe to learn more.