The Thornewood Open Space Preserve is a place rich in history, and includes the site of the historic Thornewood estate. San Franciscan Julian Thorne bought the Woodside property in 1908, and in the 1920s architect Gardner Dailey designed and built the Thornewood house, the summer home of Julian and his wife Edna. (Gardner Daily designed the farm buildings at Filoli, the DeYoung Museum addition, and the American Embassy in Manila, among other projects.) Thorne retained his estate and sold the remaining acreage, which reached from Thornewood to Skyline Boulevard, to August Schilling of the Schilling Spice Company, and for whom Schilling Lake is named.
The Thornewood house, surrounded by 3.5 acres of landscaping and a breathtaking view of the valley, is an example of the gracious estate life of the 1920s. Currently, the house and a 10-acre private leasehold are being restored and are closed to the public. However, the remaining 77 acres of the estate, including an easy 3/4 mile one-way walk along a wooded trail leading to Schilling Lake, are open to the public throughout the year.
Access to the preserve is through a brick gate on the south side of La Honda Road (Highway 84), 1.6 miles past its intersection with Portola Road in Woodside. A narrow driveway winds through the woods for 0.3 miles before reaching the parking lot located on the west side of the driveway at N 37 23.741 W 122 15.369. The preserve is open from dawn until one half-hour after sunset.
Information and maps for Thornewood Open Space Preserver as well as other preserves in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District can be found at http://www.openspace.org.
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