Ravenswood, Livermore CA
Ravenswood was built by Christopher A. Buckley, Sr. (1845-1922; known as the “Blind Boss” of San Francisco in the 1870s and 1880s) as a summer home for the Buckley family from 1885-1920. At that time, there were no bridges across the San Francisco Bay, so the journey to Livermore could take all day. Buckley was, in fact, blind and was a saloonkeeper and a political boss of the Democratic Party.
In the photo above, the building on your left (Main House) is the actual residence and the building on your right (Cottage) served for housing guests, dancing, social functions, and entertaining. After the “main events,” Buckley would entertain the “gentlemen” with “brandy and cigars” (according to docents) in a basement room in the rear of the building on your right, which housed a bar and an ornate pool table. Docents have told us that the pool table is currently in a casino in Reno, NV, and attempts to retrieve the pool table for Ravenswood have been unsuccessful to date. 
Ravenswood is on the National Register of Historic Places.
In addition to serving as a summer home for the Buckley family, Ravenswood was also one of the larger early vineyards of the Livermore area. There were 100 acres of grapes and wine production reached 500,000 gallons/year. In 1931, a Catholic Order, the Redemptorist Fathers, acquired Ravenswood for use as their religious retreat (“Villa San Clemente”) for over 30 years. The developer Masud Mehran purchased Ravenswood in 1968 and gave the core 32.6 acres for use as a park. The 1891 Main House and 1885 Tank House were restored by LARPD (Livermore Area Recreation and Park District) in 1979. The 1885 Cottage was restored in 1986. Ravenswood is also a State of California Historical Point of Interest and a City of Livermore Historic Preservation Landmark Site.
Free public tours are given by costumed docents on the second and fourth Sundays of each month (except December) from noon to 4 PM, according to the LARPD link above. Two annual Livermore events are held at Ravenswood: the Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Social on the second Sunday in August and the Victorian Yuletide on the second Sunday in December. Ravenswood can also be rented for events, as described on the LARPD site.
We have toured the site several times, including the residence and cottage, the basement room where many political deals were negotiated, and the grounds and barn, and we have visited Ravenswood during the Victorian Yuletide. We also attended a wedding at Ravenswood. I heartily recommend a visit! The period costumes of docents and the general appearance and history of Ravenswood can “transport” you to an earlier time!
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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