Ardenwood Historic Farm is a Regional Historic Landmark in Fremont,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is managed by the

East Bay Regional Park District The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which ...

. The Ardenwood Historic Farm consists of the Ardenwood Station, the former

Ohlone The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the ...

village and burial site, a blacksmith shop, an area with farm animals, Patterson House, and a gazebo. The Ardenwood Farm today is a working farm, producing grain and vegetables.

History

Officially opened to the public on July 28, 1985, the entire

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...

includes a

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is use ...

, a large

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and a

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

now called the Patterson House. Patterson called his estate "Ardenwood", after the forested area in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

mentioned in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play, ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

''.

Patterson House

George W. Patterson was born in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1822 and came to California as a forty-niner during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

. He came to Alameda County in 1851, after not having success in mining. The Patterson House (also known as the George W. Patterson House) was first constructed as a humble farm house in 1857 by the original owner, George Washington Patterson and his neighbor James Hawley. The original house was a two-story farmhouse built in

redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...

and having a rectangular floor plan and a gable roof. The original structure is now seen as the dining room, smoking room, pantry, half bath, and two upstairs bedrooms and a full bathroom. There were two subsequent additions to the house. In sometimes around c.1883–1889, a Queen Anne style addition designed by noted architect

Samuel Newsom Samuel Newsom (1852 – 1908) was a Canadian-born American architect. Together with his brother Joseph Cather Newsom founded the architecture firm Newsom and Newsom (or the Newsom Brothers), practicing in Northern and Southern California. Their mo ...

, and funded by Patterson and his wife Clara. During the c.1883–1889 renovation they extended the size of the house and enclosed the porch to the south for a full two stories and the house size was doubled. The second addition came in c.1910–1915 when Patterson's son Henry and his wife Sarah remodeled with the construction of a two-story wood-framed addition containing a kitchen and upper floor bedroom. A portrait painting of a woman was found in the attic of the Patterson House, it is thought to be by artist

John Koch John Koch (August 18, 1909 — April 19, 1978), (pronounced "KŌK") was an American painter and teacher, and an important figure in 20th century Realism. He is best known for his light-filled paintings of urban interiors, often featuring classic ...

of a relative of the Patterson family, May Morgan.

Ardenwood Station

A feature of the park is the Railroad Museum at Ardenwood which operates a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

, a recreation of a historic local branch of the

South Pacific Coast Railroad The South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC) was a narrow gauge steam railroad running between Santa Cruz, California and Alameda, with a ferry connection in Alameda to San Francisco. The railroad was created as the Santa Clara Valley Railroad, founde ...

. The museum has a collection of narrow gauge railroad cars and other artifacts of 19th-century railroading. The museum is run by the

Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources The Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of railroad artifacts created by the Carter Brothers of California. The society operates ''The Railroad Museum at Ardenwood'' ...

Farm

The local area was in

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

usage beginning sometime in the 1850s. The Ardenwood Farm locale was characterized first for its use as

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and ot ...

land and

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

production, and gradually became increasingly dedicated to

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the edible flower, flowers, ...

production. At the time of Patterson's death in 1895, the ranch was 3,000 acres, one of the largest in the area. A review of available aerial photographs by Earth Metrics reveals that the area immediately to the south was used for agricultural purposes from at least 1960 until some time in the late 1970s cultivated with a grain crop. No discrete rows are visible in the aerial photographs of that time. The Alameda family was a prominent occupant in the area for much of the period of agricultural land use. Mel Alameda of The Alameda Company confirmed to Earth Metrics that while

cauliflower Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species ''Brassica oleracea'' in the genus '' Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed. Typically, only the head is eaten – t ...

has been the dominant historic crop for the area, hay and grazing were the primary use later and until the late 1970s. Based on the lack of visible rows on the aerial photos, it is most probable that the area to the south was used for hay production rather than cauliflower.

Holidays and events

The park has hosted many events, a Celtic festival, an Independence Day celebration, the Washington Township Railroad Fair on Labor Day, a

Renaissance Faire A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire or Renaissance festival is an outdoor gathering open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which purportedly recreates a historical setting for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent the ...

in September, The Harvest Festival, annual Rail Fair, and pumpkin patch in October, a Zydeco concert, and many

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

celebrations, complete with a haunted railroad. Among other crops, in the fall the farm harvests a large

pumpkin A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...

patch.

Gallery

File:Ardenwoodfarm-050.jpg, The railway. File:Patterson House at Ardenwood Historic Farm.JPG, Patterson House (2012)

References

External links

Ardenwood Historic FarmRailroad Museum at Ardenwood, Society for Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources
{{National Register of Historic Places in California 1857 establishments in California 3 ft gauge railways in the United States Buildings and structures in Fremont, California East Bay Regional Park District Farm museums in California Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in California Heritage streetcar systems Historic farms in the United States Horse-drawn railways Horse-drawn trams in operation Houses completed in 1857 Houses in Alameda County, California Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Museums in Alameda County, California National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County, California Parks in Alameda County, California San Francisco Bay Trail Tourist attractions in Fremont, California