Our History from the Beginning
Profile: Peter Lind by Cindy Purkey
low was the little road then. Sir Francis Drake Blvd. did not exist then. On his days off, Pete would often go into Point Reyes Sta- tion and shop at the General Store. Today it is the vacant historical Grandi Building. Pete spent a year on the farm
Editor’s note: Pete Lind currently lives in Woodacre. Pete is an amazing drummer and has collaborated with piano player John Allair for over 60 years as well as playing regular gigs throughout the Bay Area. Pete’s daughter Cindy Purkey, her husband Jim, and granddaughters Emma and Stella live in Woodacre. Pete’s daughter Jenny Tabarracci lives in Novato with her husband Mike. Pete was born in South San Francisco in 1939, but lived in Marin County from the time he was 13 years old. In 1952, at the age of 13, Pete lived and worked on the Farley Ranch in Nicasio, which was owned by Bud and Celina Farley. He slept in the tack room and would get up early each morning to round up, on horseback, the 300 head of cattle for milking. Other jobs on the farm included weaning calves, cleaning horse stalls and bucking, mowing, lifting and loading, and filling the barn with hay. “You really get to the know the personalities and faces of each cow,” he remembers with a smile. “Like Squeaky, who always tried to sneak back in after eating and get another meal.” Pete and the other hands on the ranch would attach each cow to the milking machine twice a day. It was a risky job as you had to be careful not to be kicked. The goal of the farm was all about gathering food for the animals and raising them. After the milking was done, the Farley family, Pete, and the rest of the farmhands would gather for breakfast together. Among the hands were Bill Irving and his sons Dwayne and Scott. The Irvings owned a ranch next door. It was located behind the intersection of what is now Plat- form Bridge Rd. and Point Reyes/Petaluma Rd., right past the Nicasio Dam. There was no dam there at the time, just pasture. The little bridge you see today when the dam is
until he was to attend high school. He could have attended Tomales, Drake, Tamalpais or San Rafael. He chose San Rafa- el, as his friends from the farm, the Irvings, were going there. Pete’s step-family was the DelaMontanya family. Maude Gardner (his step-great grandma) was a real estate agent and sold many properties in the town of Woodacre in the beginning. His step-grandfather was Lloyd DelaMontanya. He was a Woodacre fire chief. The family lived around the back side of what is today the Woodacre ballfield, and Pete has fond memories of spending Thanksgivings there. Other points of interest: The golf course was a cattle ranch owned by the Roy Family of Roy’s Redwoods. Rancho Nicasio was there (early 1950s), very much the same as today. Nicasio was initially going to be the county seat (center of Marin) instead of San Rafael. (Photo courtesy Cindy Purkey)
Contentious Valley Meeting Late 1960s
“These photos are taken from a series of photos of the Concerned Citizens Committee when they appeared in force at a School Board meeting advocating for a sheriff substation instead of a Community Center in order to protect the Valley against ‘the dirty Hippies!’” recalls Jean Berensmeier. (Photos by Harlan Floyd)
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50 th Anniversary
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