Walnut Creek Reopens Restored 1899 Blacksmith Shop and Corral Trailhead at Old Borges Ranch

City of Walnut Creek Open Space rangers and volunteer craftspeople with the Walnut Creek Historical Society reopened the historic 1899 Blacksmith Shop and Tack Barn at Old Borges Ranch at 1035 Castle Rock Road on Friday afternoon following a four-month structural preservation and fire-hardening project. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and nestled within the 1,420-acre Shell Ridge Open Space at the base of Mount Diablo, the ranch complex was established by pioneer cattleman Francisco Borges and has served for five decades as Walnut Creek's premier outdoor environmental and heritage classroom. Specialty timber framers replaced deteriorated redwood sill plates above new concrete foundation piers, installed ember-resistant copper mesh attic vents, and treated the board-and-batten siding with a non-toxic fire-retardant mineral seal.

Inside the blacksmith shop, volunteer ferriers rebuilt the masonry brick hood and hand-cranked blower bellows over the original cast-iron coal forge, allowing docents to resume live weekend demonstrations of nineteenth-century horseshoe shaping, wagon-wheel tire banding, and branding-iron repair. Adjacent to the barn, park crews also regraded the Hanna Grove picnic loop with stabilized decomposed granite so visitors using wheelchairs or strollers can travel smoothly from the parking area to the livestock corrals and duck pond.

Three thousand third- and fourth-grade students from the Walnut Creek and Mt. Diablo unified school districts visit Old Borges Ranch each academic year to learn how Diablo Valley ranching families pumped spring water, sheared sheep, and stewarded oak savanna grasslands. Two new solar-powered weather and wildfire-camera stations mounted on the ridge above the ranch now provide real-time visibility for Open Space rangers and Contra Costa Fire dispatchers.

The $215,000 preservation project was funded through the City of Walnut Creek Open Space Capital Fund and a matching grant from the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation. Residents can check Saturday blacksmith demonstration hours, download Shell Ridge trail maps, or register for guided autumn bird walks on the Walnut Creek Open Space Official Portal.