This past week we have enjoyed spending time with David & Chris as well as 6 plus inch's of rain that fell on Tues. as a steady 18 hour rain. Sun. We went to the Wilder Ranch State Park at Santa Cruz. A brother in law of Carol Greenburg, Chris's best friend is a docent there so we had a private tour of the ranch buildings. This was a 6000 acre dairy farm that dates back to the early 1800's when Calif was still in the hands of the Spaniards. The oldest building is an adobe that was erected in 1839. In 1871 Melvin D. Wilder acquired the ranch, he had been in the dairy business a little further north in Marin county prior to that. After the gold rush started he was able to sell butter for $1.00 per lb. in San Francisco about 70 miles to the north.
The Barn was originally built in 1849. It is built with mortise & tenon joints held together with a wooden peg through them as nails were not available at that time. By 1872 Mr. Wilder had lenghtened it so that it held 103 cows on each side for milking. The Victorian house was built in 1897 and had elec lights as by this time Mr. Wilder had brought the Pelton Water Wheels from New York to power tools and a generator. The Pelton Water Wheel was powered by water that was stored in reservoirs higher up in the hills and piped to the ranch. After the tour we enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Bill & Kathy Fitzgerald at their home in Santa Cruz. Bill is the docent that gave us the tour. We are so blessed to be spending our retirement doing what we do and meeting and making new friends all the time.
This past week we have enjoyed spending time with David & Chris as well as 6 plus inch's of rain that fell on Tues. as a steady 18 hour rain. Sun. We went to the Wilder Ranch State Park at Santa Cruz. A brother in law of Carol Greenburg, Chris's best friend is a docent there so we had a private tour of the ranch buildings. This was a 6000 acre dairy farm that dates back to the early 1800's when Calif was still in the hands of the Spaniards. The oldest building is an adobe that was erected in 1839. In 1871 Melvin D. Wilder acquired the ranch, he had been in the dairy business a little further north in Marin county prior to that. After the gold rush started he was able to sell butter for $1.00 per lb. in San Francisco about 70 miles to the north.
The Barn was originally built in 1849. It is built with mortise & tenon joints held together with a wooden peg through them as nails were not available at that time. By 1872 Mr. Wilder had lenghtened it so that it held 103 cows on each side for milking. The Victorian house was built in 1897 and had elec lights as by this time Mr. Wilder had brought the Pelton Water Wheels from New York to power tools and a generator. The Pelton Water Wheel was powered by water that was stored in reservoirs higher up in the hills and piped to the ranch. After the tour we enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Bill & Kathy Fitzgerald at their home in Santa Cruz. Bill is the docent that gave us the tour. We are so blessed to be spending our retirement doing what we do and meeting and making new friends all the time.
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