The Watson Ranch is a 500-acre dairy ranch. In 1890, Harrison Mecham built an elaborate Queen Anne home here as a wedding gift to his daughter Isabel. He named the property Garden Valley Ranch. The house was demolished in 1984 after being damaged in an electrical fire. The historic carriage house survives.

The John S. Watson family came as tenant-operators in 1926 and acquired interest in the property in 1965. In 1979, the property became Sonoma County’s first permanent agricultural preserve when conservation easements were established to prevent massive residential subdivision developments.

When we photographed the property it was a rose nursery and wedding venue.