Historic Ardenwood

A farmer’s legacy is your key to the past…

It was 1849 when George Patterson joined the stream of young men leaving the Midwest for California’s gold fields. His dreams left little room for failure, but after a year and a half of mining he was ill and broke. So, he turned to work he knew well: farming.

George gradually bought land with the money he earned by working for farmers near Mission San Jose. By the time he married Clara Hawley in 1877, he was on his way to acquiring nearly 6,000 acres of land and was one of the wealthiest and well-respected men in the area. At last he had struck “gold”-not in the hills, but through farming the fertile plains of the East Bay.

Today, Patterson’s original house and land are part of Ardenwood Historic Farm. We invite you to come and experience farm life as it was near the turn of the 20th century.

Draft horses still pull wagons, railcars and plows. The land still grows the kind of crops George Patterson tended 100 years ago, and the farmyard is still full of animals.

Ardenwood was named after a forested area described in Shakespeare’s play
“As You Like It”.

The information above provided courtesy of the East Bay Regional Park District.