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Lord Rick Rowe | Create Your Badge
 







    
   
 

Today Rancho San Rafael is a museum and a state park with lush gardens, wildlife and educational opportunities. Sitting in the heart of Reno the views here are as stellar as the Ranch is as beautiful.

My interest grew with this location when they advertised the Dinosaur and Dragons exhibit. I was not pleased so much with the electronic dinos as I was however the gardens that are lush and green. You have no idea the pleasure it brings me to walk into the gardens just to smell a little bit of honey suckle or fresh flowers. I spent a few years out in the desert where you never get to experience such scents as you would here at Rancho San Rafael.

At one time the grounds you see in the photos were a working ranch that began in the later 1890's and had cattle grazing about. The Pincolini Brothers owned the ranch and its land. They had no structures just pastures at the time for about 30 years. In the year 1920 a man by the name of Russell C. Jensen and his wife purchased the property. They built their own ranch house and eventually other structures on the site.

The Jensens owned sheep rather then cattle on the ranch all that however changed when in 1925 Mr. Jensen was killed in an auto accident up in Truckee Ca. Ten years later his wife sold the ranch to a Doctor Raphael Herman, Norman and sister in law Marianna Herman.  Raphael Herman used the ranch to herd cattle. At this time the ranch had corrals, sheds, brans and many other buildings on site. With views of Mt. Rose and downtown Reno it truly was the best of both worlds. Despite all the buildings only the Main Ranch House and original ranch house built by the Jensens remains. All the other buildings were either moved or removed from the site.

Dr. Herman and his brother Norman eventually would pass on and Mrs Marianna ended up moving back to Southern Ca and leasing this land for grazing. In the mid 1970's she sold the land for a very steep price. It was worth allot because the land was the largest single owner parcels left in the Truckee Meadows. Eventually it would be made into a park where picnic areas, playgrounds, restrooms and other amenities would be added.

The park encompasses roughly 570 acres of pasture land and natural sage brush high desert. Then there is about 25 acres of the land that is manicured such as the gardens and 80 acres is a pasture. Not only that but it is home to the Wilbur D. May Museum, Arboretum and the Great Basin Adventure.  The gardens are scattered all around the lake this includes a labrynth, gazebos and hundreds of plant species.

At one time Mastodons roamed these lands the lake which was formed with Evans Creek is about a century old. The foreground to the park is the high sierras which is composed of a crystaline rock composed of magnma common to the area.  From a distance one can see Mt. Rose named after an early pioneer and slide mountain known for its massive landslides. If one were to imagine all the structures gone you could easily envision a giant Mastodon slowly grazing the hillsides. As a paranormal investigator I am a dreamer I see things for what they are and I accept them. Even though man has came to this area over a century ago not much has changed those mountains probably looked the same way millions of years ago as well.  With 14 lush gardens and the site of the Reno Great Baloon Races this place is a jewel in the heart of the city for many of the local residents.

 Wilbur D. May was a longtime resident of Reno who cared about educational opportunities for children. He was also a philanthropist, world travler, rancher and adventurer. Most of his collections he donated to Washoe County and they can be found today on this ranch. This ranges from all the various plants and trees that grow in the gardens to artifacts collected from his journeys to other countries found at the musuem.  Although May had no connections to this ranch his collections can often be seen here. Another ranch in Reno is now available to the public its called Double Diamond which you can take a tour at.

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Lord Rick
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