In 2026, the historic Shinn House and Arboretum marks 150 years. The site tells the story of the Bay Area’s contributions to the nursery industry, as well as the experiences of one of the area’s pioneer families.
The former home of James and Lucy Shinn was completed a century and a half ago in 1876. The family of seven had spent their first two decades in California living in a small one-room cottage built on the banks of Alameda Creek in the 1850s. This cottage can be seen off the parking lot at Shinn Historical Park and Arboretum.
The Shinn family ran a horticultural nursery business in the 1870s and 1880s, selling fruit trees, roses, berries, vines and ornamentals, including plants like bamboo, irises and tea from Japan. After the nursery business closed in the late 1880s, the family focused on their orchards, producing fruit for sale, canning or drying.
Three of James and Lucy’s children made a name for themselves, both locally and further afield: Charles, the first Head Ranger of the Sierra National Forest; Milicent, the first woman to receive a PhD from the University of California in Berkeley for her work in infant and child development and Joseph, who helped found the Alameda County Water District.
But what did the family think of their then-new house? Amidst discussions of furniture and carpets as they settled into this much larger home, Lucy wrote to her daughter Milicent (who was away at UC Berkeley at the time): “Well everyone asks me how we feel in the new house, to which I sometimes reply, just as I did in the old one, and sometimes that we enjoy it very much, and so we do.”
If you would like to learn more about the house, the family and Fremont’s agricultural past, take a docent-led tour on our monthly open houses, the first Wednesday and third Sunday of every month. For more information, email mp************@***il.com or visit HistoricShinnHouse.org or Facebook @ShinnHistoricPark.
Shinn House Tours
First Wednesdays and third Sundays
1 – 3pm
1251 Peralta Blvd., Fremont
Tickets: Adults $5, children (7-15) $3
