Their First Home

Sim Cottage is the first home that the Shinn family lived in, after they arrived in California in 1856. The cottage today was not in this location.

The cottage was built by William Sim along Alameda Creek, about a half mile North from here. Stories go that Sim used redwood lumber salvaged from a schooner (or two) abandoned in the San Francisco Bay during the Gold Rush of 1849. Charles Shinn said that Sim was a blacksmith. He was an early farmer/rancher in this area, who planted fruit trees, wheat, and grape vines.

Dr. Joseph W. Clark, Lucy Shinn’s brother, purchased the 250-acre ranch from William Sim. [more on this later!] The Shinn family lived in this small cottage for twenty years until the Big House was finished in 1876. Three children were born in this cottage, and at one time, up to seven family members in all may have inhabited this small space. Their youngest, Lucy Ellen, passed in 1873, around the time that the nursery business started.The children slept in a small loft above the stone fireplace, and Lucy and James slept in the bed they brought with them from Texas.

James and Lucy moved into the Big House when it was completed in September 1876. The new house was much closer to the road to Centerville and Niles. It had a well, a tankhouse, and an office for the nursery, some great improvements.

1868 earthquake

"Later, J. C. Shinn would report that after the earthquake, his father's home, sitting directly on the fault, was split in two, with one side dropping about a foot. Later analysis would indicate that there was a 30 cm drop along the fault near the Shinn property.”

From Lawson in a chapter on the 1868 earthquake in a report on the 1906 earthquake. See HaywarEarthquake Fault Garden d Fault.

In April 1877, Lucy Shinn wrote to her daughter Milicent about some paintings that her niece, Lue, had painted.

“I suppose Annie told you that Cousin Lue painted two more pictures of the old house, one an end view, and one, taking in the old willow and the back of the kitchen with the water barrel, etc.”

This painting of the cottage ~1877 was displayed in Milicent Shinn's house in the late 1910s. It is in the Shinn House today. Vice Admiral Shinn noted that Annie Shinn is the young woman reading on the porch with the dog. Annie died in 1878 at age 21.

The Cottage on Alameda Creek

Cousin Lucy Clark (Lue) painted several pictures of the cottage. Lue was the daughter of Lucy Shinn's brother ("Uncle Dr." Joseph Clark). The Clark home was in San Francisco. Lue married lumberman H.B. Tichenor in 1868. Henry died in 1883. Lucy married Herman Schnabel in 1887. They lived in Germany for a time. Lue and Herman were accomplished artists.

Lucy (Lue) Tichenor 1878

Unknown Date - before 1950?

Sim's cottage was moved away from Alameda Creek in the 1950s By Florence Shinn. The area was then quarried for gravel. This photo is probably before it was moved in the 1950s. Note the trellis and the door is flush with the ground.

The cottage was once said to be one of the oldest existing wood-frame houses in Alameda County. Is it? That would take some checking.

The old cottage had a front porch trellis and the entrance was at ground level.

[Shinn Sim Cottage and Gardens]

Struck by Lighting 1965

In 1965 the cottage was struck by lightning when it struck a tree and ricocheted into the home. At that time, Florence Shinn still was living in the Big House and the park was not yet developed.

[Scan 418 Sim Cottage copy]

Restoring the Cottage

This unknown group of kids, possibly scouts, worked on the cottage. Do you know who this might have been or when? The roof looks like it is wood shingles, so it was before 1996 when the next photo was taken.

Friends of Heirloom Flowers

The California Nursery Garden Club was founded in 1994. Soon the gardeners took on the Shinn gardens and needed a new name and became the Friends of Heirloom Flowers.

For years, the Friends of Heirloom Flowers garden club took care of two gardens - at the California Nursery Historical Park and Shinn Park.

In 1996 the Friends of Heirloom Flowers became the long-time caretakers and residents of the Sim Cottage.

By 2010, they were only taking care of Shinn Park and have enjoyed a blossoming community with this historic cottage at its heart.

One of the driveway pecan trees fell in 198x and narrowly missed Denise, a garden club gardener, and also missed the cottage! This new open space became the "Founders Garden."

Who was this Sim who built the cottage? Simm? A captain? A blacksmith? A farmer?

Charles wrote about Sim in the Oakland Enquirer in June 22, 1889. He said the house was built out of wood from an old schooner that Sim bought at an old embarcadero.

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