By Doris Berdahl and Larry Clinton, Sausalito Historical Society
PHOTO COURTESY SAUSALITO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Members of the Ritchie family in Wildwood Glen c. 1912.
The following is a lightly edited excerpt from an article by longtime Historical Society volunteer Doris Berdahl in the fall 2010 Society newsletter:
Today it’s simply called The Glen. But in the late 19th century, it was known by a much more intriguing title—Wildwood Glen, a thicket of dark, dense growth where pleasure seekers could abandon their inhibitions and lovers could retreat from the prying eyes of their elders. A bit suggestive of forbidden pleasures, yes, but also a practical public utility—the source of much of Sausalito’s water supply at the turn of the last century.
In fact, the narrow ravine that cuts into the hills at the top of Turney Valley and threads between Santa Rosa Avenue and Glen Drive still sluices waters from Wolfback Ridge down the full length of the valley. Its year-round creek runs past the old Gardner House (The Bower) at Girard, then disappears briefly
under the road, reappearing between Pine and Turney and finally diving underground around Bonita. It empties into the bay near the Turney boat ramp.
Its waters have served many purposes. According to local historian Dorothy Gibson, Coast Miwok Indian settlements captured the creek at its base for domestic uses, as did Sausalito’s first European settlers (William Richardson and his Rancho del Sausalito). The 19th century whaling industry utilized it to supply ships heading out to the Pacific, and 20th century commercial interests (notably Elliott’s Laundry on Caledonia Street) tapped into it.
Mabel Wosser, a daughter of Thomas Wosser, principle engineer of Sausalito’s first cross-bay ferryboat, the Princess, recalls in her memoirs that before her family built their home on Pine Street in 1874, “only the Gardner and Ritchie homes had been built . . . in this lovely spot, with the exception, of course, of the Richardson adobe. A large creek ran through the valley to the bay. The Indians had lived there under the handsome laurel trees.”
More than halfway up the ravine, in an open glade, the Indians maintained what is believed to be a burial site, the graves of which have long since been obliterated. On the south side of the gulch, the Sausalito Land & Ferry Company created a reservoir intended to provide water for the growing town below, but which also functioned (more informally) as Sausalito’s version of the proverbial “old swimming hole.” It was abandoned as a water source in 1914 and finally drained in 1926 following a drowning incident.
But of the diverse uses made of Wildwood Glen, few were more lively and interesting than the entertainments held there during the latter decades of the 19th century. “Sausalito in the 1880s generated considerable interest among San Francisco’s rich.” Jack Tracy wrote in Moments In Time, “Saturday or Sunday excursions to Wildwood Glen had long been popular with the bourgeoisie. There was always something deemed slightly racy about Sausalito that livened up newspaper accounts . . . ”
Although the San Francisco Chronicle deemed Wildwood Glen “a damp and rhumatickey spot,” it held a particular fascination for the Bay Area German community. Accompanied by musicians, revelers frequently came over to Sausalito by ferry to dance, drink and romance in the Glen’s shady recesses. In response, enterprising Horace Platt of the Sausalito Land & Ferry Company, whose house bordered the creek, built an outdoor entertainment area, complete with picnic grounds and Edward Stahl, of German heritage, who served as unofficial chief of the Sausalito fire brigade, later acquired the Wildwood Glen property and continued the tradition of summer dance parties, stocked according to his newspaper advertisements with “the best wines and beers.” In the 1890s, a small hotel briefly thrived there, and as many as 2,000 to 3,000 visitors were said to visit in a season.
Today, while the creek still runs through The Glen—coursing rambunctiously in wet winters, trickling placidly in dry summers—the ambiance has changed. Its banks are heavily built out with contemporary homes, approved, following vigorous neighborhood opposition, by the Sausalito City Council in the 1970s.
In the same newsletter, fellow Historical Society volunteer Margaret Badger, brought readers up to date on historic Wildwood Glen: “In the 1940s and 50s, The Glen was a favorite playground for Turney Valley children, beginning at Girard Avenue, where the creek goes under the bridge, and ascending to where Glen Drive and Santa Rosa now meet. The gulch above Glen Drive was also a play area until about 1953 when, due to construction of the freeway above, it was destroyed.”
Archival copies of Historical Society newsletters may be viewed at www.sausalitohistoricalsociety.com.