Forest Home Farms
19953 San Ramon Valley Blvd. MAP
(925) 973-3284
Forest Home Farms Historic Park is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm*. The grounds host various exhibits and displays including our Tractor Museum, and newly installed Railroad Depot Display! Come walk the grounds and enjoy a self-guided tour. Pamphlets for the self-guided tour can be found at the bulletin board located at the entry of the parking lot.
*San Ramon Historic Foundation event days gates open at 11am. Click here for full listing of events.
**Fee required for San Ramon Historic Foundation events. Click here for SRHF website.
Becoming A Park
In 1997, Ruth Quayle Boone bequeathed the 16-acre Boone family farm known as Forest Home Farms, at 19953 San Ramon Valley Boulevard, to the City of San Ramon for use as a municipal historic park in memory of her husband, Travis Moore Boone. After Ruth Boone’s death in 1998 at the age of 94, the City expanded the memorial to include Ruth, in honor of her generosity to the people of San Ramon and in recognition of the contribution women made to agriculture in the San Ramon Valley.
In light of the recent, widespread development of agricultural lands for residential subdivisions in Contra Costa County and the rise of land values, the gift was extraordinary. Frequently approached by developers who wished to purchase the farm for subdivision, Mrs. Boone chose instead to preserve Forest Home Farms in perpetuity and give this large parcel of land to the people of San Ramon so that they too could enjoy the beauty of the property. The City accepted the property with the vision and foresight to recognize its potential as a regional open space that could provide recreational and educational opportunities possibly unsurpassed in the rapidly changing landscape of Contra Costa County.
The 16-acre farm is located at the base of the East Bay Hills and Oak Creek divides it in two almost equal parts. The northern portion of the site contains all of the structures built or used by the Boone’s, except for the cistern that sits atop a hill on the southwest corner. The structures include 2 houses, fourteen outbuildings and two pergolas. The houses represent almost a century of residential development in the valley. The Boone House is a 22-room Dutch colonial that was remodeled several times since it was built in 1900. This home now serves as office space and a meeting center. The fourteen outbuildings vary significantly in date and size, including a barn originally built in the period from 1850 to 1860, a 7000 square-foot farm equipment and automobile storage structure and a three-building walnut processing plant that includes a three-story hulling and drying structure.
Watch a video about the Boone Family and Forest Home Farms