By the early 1960s, the transformation of San Ramon Village was already underway. Ranches and orchards were giving way to planned neighborhoods, but one large walnut orchard remained in south San Ramon. Rather than simply clear the land, Volk-McLain and the builders who followed experimented with preserving the mature trees as part of the suburban landscape.
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| Map of the last walnut orchard in south San Ramon, circa 1961. Old-growth orchard planted about 1940; north orchard planted about 1955. |
Subdividing the orchard
Volk-McLain started building homes in the eastern portion of the old-growth orchard in 1963 with their Country Club Park subdivision.
By the mid-1960s, the housing market was slowing and Volk-McLain decided to exit home building. The company began selling portions of the orchard to other developers. Tom Gentry acquired the entire younger northern orchard along with additional land in the old-growth grove, where he would later build the Oak Creek and The Orchards subdivisions — the latter fully embracing the walnut grove identity in both name and marketing.
The west portion of the old-growth walnut orchard became part of a larger tract acquired by H. C. Elliott from Volk-McLain in 1963. Elliott began developing the southern portion of that property as Crestview, one of the earliest new neighborhoods in San Ramon Village.
Rather than extending Crestview north into the remaining orchard, Elliott sold the undeveloped walnut grove parcel to Brown & Kauffmann. That land would later become Walnut Hills, a subdivision that embraced the mature trees as a central part of its identity and marketing.
The decision divided the former orchard landscape into separate suburban visions: Crestview introduced a new family-oriented neighborhood, while Walnut Hills attempted to preserve the character of the agricultural landscape that came before it.
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| Annotated aerial map of the former walnut orchards in San Ramon, California. The northern younger orchard was subdivided by Tom Gentry to build the Oak Creek (1965) and The Orchards (1968) subdivisions. The southern old-growth orchard was subdivided by Tom Gentry to extend The Orchards subdivision, Brown & Kauffmann to build the Walnut Hills (1966) subdivision, and Volk-McLain to build the Country Club Park (1963) subdivision. Every home in these tracts came with at least one walnut tree. Few, if any, remain today. Base imagery from Apple Maps. |
A suburban patchwork
As the remaining orchard land changed hands, each developer approached the landscape differently, creating a patchwork of neighborhoods that reflected changing ideas about suburban living.
After acquiring the western portion of the old-growth walnut orchard from H. C. Elliott in 1966, Brown & Kauffmann introduced Walnut Hills with a marketing campaign centered around life among mature orchard trees. About 200 homes were planned among the towering walnuts, with advertisements promising shade, tranquility, and a more pastoral version of suburban living.
Brown & Kauffmann positioned Walnut Hills as a premium alternative to nearby tracts. Homes started at $26,950 and included eligibility for membership in the nearby San Ramon Country Club.
After selling roughly 80 homes, Brown & Kauffmann sold remaining lots to Young America Homes and transferred additional orchard land to Tom Gentry. Young America briefly entered the project in 1969 before departing a year later after building only a fraction of the planned homes.
In 1971, Brown & Kauffmann returned with a new collection of homes and completed Walnut Hills by 1972, finishing the transformation of the former orchard into one of San Ramon's early suburban neighborhoods.
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| February 1966 Oakland Tribune—H. C. Elliott, S. H. Kauffmann, and Wayne R. Brown review plans for Walnut Hills, the subdivision Brown & Kauffmann would build on orchard land acquired from Elliott. |
Marketing the orchard
Throughout each phase of development, the orchard remained the selling point. Mature walnut trees adorned ads and brochures, promising shade, beauty, and a sense of place. Lots fetched premium prices—sometimes thousands more than other nearby homes—just for the trees alone.
Homebuyers were promised a slice of California pastoral life: a hammock under the canopy, walnuts for the picking, and maybe even a glass of lemonade.
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| March 1964 Oakland Tribune ad—while the golf course lots had sold out, luxury home buyers might prefer a beautiful old walnut grove. |
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| 1969 ad: “A rare opportunity—for the few who can enjoy the orchard life.” |
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| April 1966 Oakland Tribune ad—the trees were inviting you to Walnut Hills. |
The demise of the trees
Despite the romance of orchard living, reality set in quickly.
English walnut trees (Juglans regia) are great for commercial farming, but not for suburban life. They shed leaves early, dropped messy fruit, consumed huge amounts of water, and released pollen that triggered allergies. Most of all, nothing grows underneath them.
Then came the drought. By the late 1970s, most of the trees were gone.
Timeline: development of San Ramon's last walnut orchard
- 1940: Old-growth walnut orchard planted in south San Ramon
- 1955: Younger northern orchard planted
- 1963: Country Club Park homes built in the eastern orchard (Volk-McLain)
- 1965: Tom Gentry launches the Oak Creek subdivision in the younger orchard
- 1966: Brown & Kauffmann announce Walnut Hills
- 1968: Tom Gentry launches The Orchards subdivision
- 1969: Young America Homes builds homes on former Brown & Kauffmann lots
- 1971–72: Brown & Kauffmann return to complete Walnut Hills
- Late 1970s: Most walnut trees removed due to drought and landscaping issues
A community rooted in walnut orchard history
By the time the last walnut trees disappeared in the late 1970s, the orchard itself was gone—but traces of it still lingered in the neighborhoods built among its rows. Street layouts, oversized lots, and names like The Orchards and Walnut Hills quietly preserved the memory of south San Ramon’s agricultural past.
What made the experiment unusual was that developers briefly tried to preserve the landscape instead of erasing it entirely. For a few years, buyers could live among towering walnut trees that had shaded the valley long before suburbia arrived.
In the end, suburban life proved incompatible with commercial orchard trees. The walnuts dropped too heavily, consumed too much water, and resisted the lawns and landscaping homeowners wanted. But for a short period during San Ramon’s transformation, the valley’s last orchard survived long enough to shape the neighborhoods that replaced it.
Collection
The San Ramon Village collection explores the master-planned community that transformed former ranches and orchards into today's Dublin and South San Ramon. Although the name has largely disappeared, the neighborhoods, subdivisions, schools, parks, and shopping centers built as part of the original plan continue to shape the Tri-Valley.
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The Builder Boom — when San Ramon Village outgrew its founders
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The Final Build-Out — completing the San Ramon Village vision
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