564-acre California ranch with redwoods, six homes and two Prohibition-era bars lists for $22.5m

Family owners of 100 years whittle $2.5m off asking price to sweeten deal

The Island Farm in San Gregorio (Sotheby’s International Realty)
The Island Farm in San Gregorio (Sotheby’s International Realty)

A Northern California ranch said to have hosted Charles Lindbergh and Gregory Peck had its price chopped by $2.5 million.

The 564-acre Island Farm property in San Gregorio has six historic homes and is now asking $22.5 million, according to Mansion Global. It’s been owned by the same family for a century and has furnished log cabins, redwood forests, ponds and streams and grazing cattle.

“There’s over 80 acres of redwood forests with a stream running right through it,” said listing agent Cutty Smith, of Sotheby’s International Realty’s San Francisco Brokerage. “But then you get up on the hills and you have these broad vistas. You can see the waves crashing at San Gregorio Beach.”

The seller’s great aunt and uncle received the property as a wedding gift in the 1920s, the agents said. It’s three-and-a-half miles from the Pacific Ocean and its homes, built before state building restrictions, need updates. Two of them are on ridges overlooking the beach.

A main cabin also includes two Prohibition-era bars. It includes the three-bedroom, three-bathroom Cooks Cabin, and Rose’s Cottage, the ranch’s largest home, which has five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Furnishings come with the deal, including canoes and other recreational equipment. A caretaker in his 80s who has lived there since the age of three makes his home in the final cottage.

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In recent years, the estate has earned money by hosting weddings and as a backdrop for movies and commercials. Historical amenities include a dance floor, as well as a ticket booth once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad now used as a bar or wedding cake station.

A working barn has two stories and was built in 1936 in a Bavarian style, inspired by the owners’ frequent European visits. The cattle allows the property to remain in the Williamson Act, which stipulates owners can’t develop the land for 10 years in exchange for a tax break.

A lack of easements means there are fewer restrictions for development. Riparian water rights come with the sale, with enough available for homes and animals, according to the listing. It’s a 45-minute drive to Stanford University.

[Mansion Global] – Dana Bartholomew