PEACOCK HILL

Several of the historic Washington College buildings were still standing when we moved to the Mission Valley in the early 1970’s as were many of the original exotic trees and shrubs. The property was in hands of the Giles family who had owned it since 1942 and were preparing to hold an estate sale in advance of selling the former campus to make way for the Timber Creek housing development. Dating from 1871, the campus and large play field on the corner of Washington Blvd. and Driscoll Road had been the site of the private co-ed Washington College, the Curtner Seminary for Young Ladies, and later the Anderson Academy Military School for Boys. The Anderson family purchased the property in 1914 as a private home creating Bonnie Brae, Scottish for “beautiful hillside setting”, and the site of many garden parties and community events. The Giles added a menagerie of animals to the grounds during their stewardship of the property including flocks of peahens and peacocks that strutted around the grounds, nesting in the bushes and trees. The screeching of the flamboyant foul could be heard at the old Horner place on Driscoll Road, at the ruins of the Gallegos Winery next to old Mission Road, and by surprised passengers arriving at Irvington’s Western Pacific Depot. Locals dubbed the grounds on the bluff  “Peacock Hill”. On warm summer evenings after the commuter traffic has quieted down, the Google buses have returned to their stalls, and BART schedules have eased, and if you listen very, very closely you can sometimes still hear the sound of the Washington College baseball team knocking a few into the outfield, or the good natured roughhousing by the Anderson Academy football team. Young ladies from the Curtner Seminary can sometimes be heard playing tennis, knocking wooden croquet balls or boarding a horse drawn wagon for a short trip to the Stiver Lagoon for an afternoon picnic. And If you listen very carefully I’m certain that you too will be able to hear the distant sounds of the birds of Peacock Hill.   -Bill