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Home My WebLink AboutBURGUNDY WAY 19474HISTORIC RESOURCES INVENTORY ( #19) IDENTIFICATION 1. Common name: Brolly Farm 2. Historic name: Cherrymount 3. Street or rural address: 19474 Burgundy Way City: Saratoga Zip: 95070 County: Santa Clara 4. Parcel number: 397 -36 -033, 034 5. Present Owner: Archibald Hart Brolly Address: P.O. Box 762 City: Saratoga Zip: 95071 Ownership is: Public: Private: X 6. Present Use: Residence Original Use: Barn, carriage house DESCRIPTION 7a. Architectural style: Farmhouse 7b. Briefly describe the present physical appearance of the site or structure and describe any major alterations from its original condition: Cherrymount Farm contains several old farm buildings. The oldest is probably the granery, which dates from at least the 1860's. The building contains hand -hewn floor and wall timbers held by wooden pegs. The present residence is a remodeled barn, built in 1900. Modern windows and doors are set into the gable ends of the barn, which still retains what appears to be original siding. The property includes a tank tower and pump house remodeled with modern windows. (photograph here) 8. Construction date: Estimated: 1860, 1900, 1906 Factual: 9. Architect: Unknown 10. Builder: Unknown 11. Approx. prop. size Frontage: Depth: approx. acreage: 4.44 12. Date(s) of enclosed photograph(s): 1988 13. Condition: Excellent: Good: X Fair: Deteriorated: No longer in existence: 14. Alterations: Barn used as residence extensively remodeled in 1950's 15. Surroundings: (Check more than one if necessary) Open land: Scattered buildings: X Densely built -up: Residential: X Industrial: Commercial: Other: 16. Threats to site: None known: X Private development: Zoning: Vandalism: Public Works project: Other: 17. Is the structure: On its original site? X Moved? Unknown? 18. Related features: SIGNIFICANCE 19. Briefly state historical and /or architectural importance (include dates, events, and persons associated with the site). The granery on this property dates from 1860, based on Civil War era newspapers found in the walls during remodeling. The property was purchased from a Mr. Fuller in 1888 and has remained in the Brolly family ever since. The residence is a remodeled barn, built in 1908. This was the first ranch in Saratoga to be electrified in 1906. 20. Main theme of the historic resource: (If more than one is checked, number in order of importance.) Architecture: Arts /Leisure: Economic /Industrial: 1 Exploration /Settlement: Government: Military: Religion: Social /Ed.: 21. Sources (List books, documents, surveys, personal interviews and their dates). Interview with Arch Brolly, 1/84; Deed of Trust (7/57); Declaration of Homestead, (June 30, 1883). 22. Date form prepared: 4/88 By (name): SHPC Organization: City of Saratoga Address: 13777 Fruitvale Ave. City: Saratoga Zip: 95070 Phone: 867 -3438 Locational sketch map (draw and label site and surrounding. streets, roads, and prominent landmarks): NORTH ICs R<� NEIGHBORHOODS Brolly family in 3rd generation /?I/?Y WA Cherrymount celebrates 100th. anniversary By Kim Malanczuk Just over 100 years ago — on Sept. 4,1888— Archibald Beatty Brolly purchased a 40 -acre Saratoga fruit farm and called it Cherrymount, Brolly's son Archibald "Arch" Hart Brolly recently reflected. This past September marked the 100th anniversary of the pur- chase of the Irish homestead which has seen three more gen- erations of Brollys continue to cultivate . the land rich in fruit and family historv. Archibald Beatty Brolly, an Irishman from Ballaneana, Northern Ireland, found his way to the United States in the late 1800s as a marine engineer with the White Star Steamship Co. With most of his sea voyages based from San Francisco Brol- ly decided to settle in the city, until a vacation at Crowell's Boarding House on Fruitvale Avenue brought him to Sara- toga. During the late 1800s Saratoga was known as a resort, Arch explained. It was during one of his trips to Crowell's that he spotted the 4 -acres of fruitful Cherrymount and also met his future wife Mary "Aunt Molly" Hart. There are two stories behind the chosen name of Cherry- mount. One story says Brolly named the farm after the large numbers of cherry trees grow- ing on a hill on the property. Another story says Cherry- mount was once the name of a Brolly family farm located-in a town outside of Belfast, Ireland. Brolly didn't get right into fruit farming once he.purchased the property, instead he chose to continue his ocean voyages for several more years. Once Mary was pregnant, with Arch, how- ever, she put her foot down and asked Brolly to stay home. "My mother often said she talked dad into hastening his retirement because she didn't want to raise a son all by herself. Because at that time he was gone at least nine months out of the year," Arch said. When Arch was a child, the family settled into farming a variety of fruit including apri- cots, three or four acres of The Brolly's 3,000 gallon water tank as it originally ap- peared on the property. Since then the frame has been en- closed and is used as the family's construction busi- ness offices. Archibald "Arch" Hart,Brolly and his wife Helen Elizabeth "Bet- ty" Riddell, the "beautiful girl" he met at UC Berkeley, in the early 1900s. Saratoga News /October 5, 19813 /page 6 cherry trees, and several varie- ties of plums. One of Arch's earliest memories as a child is being paid 10 cents a day by his father to stand by the "dipping device" and stack the empty fruit boxes. "I was a little tot at the time," he said. He recalls dried prunes as be- ing a "cut throat" business before Sun Sweet came to the area to buy the local sun dried prunes. Originally farmers would.take their fruit to packing companies. Company repre- sentatives would evaluate the prunes and "haggle" the price. "Once Sun Sweet came to the area they took care of the mar- keting," he said. During good years, the farm produced 30 to 40 tons of dried prunes. The process of sun dry- ing the prunes is relatively sim- ple with only a few steps to fol- low. First, the prunes are dipped in boiling water and lye for less than a minute. Then the prunes are cleaned with water to wash off the lye and spread on 3' by 8' fruit trays where they dry in the sun for about a week. Cherrymount: was an active farm until Arch's parents died while he was attending the Uni- versity of California, Berkeley. His college years were particu- larly difficult because his mother died when he was a freshman and his father died when he was a senior. Arch says it was a "beautiful girl" that pulled him through those trying years. The young girl was Helen Elizabeth "Betty" Riddell who would later become his wife. "It's been a hard time for me since she passed away in 1971," lie remembers wistfully. Once married, the couple left Cherrymount for 25 years while Arch worked in other states. It wasn't until 1951 that they returned to the farm to pursue a home orchard for their own use. Since 1951 most of the. 40 acres of farmland at the corner of Fruit- . vale Avenue and Burgundy Way has been sold and transformed into housing developments. Of the original 40 acres, only a 4 -acre farm with a small orchard remains. Despite the decrease in property size the 88- year -old Arch still remains busy harvesting his fruit. He current- ly has an orchard of nectarines, a Crawford peach, four varieties of apples, two varieties of per- simmons, three varieties of figs, . and several varieties of plums and apricots. It's still enough fruit to keep the whole family in . fruit and canning for a while. Last year Arch grew more than 500 pounds of apricots. "My family enjoys Cherry- mount immensely and my seven grandchildren consume an aw- ful lot of fruit," he said. Pictured here is the back of the original home next to the wind. mill. Arch Hart Brolly Sr. replaced the house in 1956 with his cur. rent Cherrymount home. Archibald "Arch" Hart Brolly at his Irish homestead.