Profiles in Preservation

Anna Burbank Ranch, Tomales

A sense of history permeates everything at the Burbank Ranch in Tomales where MALT recently completed purchase of an agricultural conservation easement. Owned jointly by Anna Burbank and her brother-in-law Luther (Gwyn) Burbank, the property was once part of the Rancho Balsa de Tomales, a land grant deeded to Captain Juan Nepomisena Padilla by the Mexican government in 1845. The 325-acre spread came into the Burbank family in the 1850s when it was purchased by George Walton Burbank, the grandfather of Gwyn and of Anna's late husband, George Walton Burbank, Jr. Subsequent generations of the family have lived and worked on the homestead ever since; it may be the oldest continuously owned family ranch in Marin County.

The first George Walton was the half-brother of botanist Luther Burbank who followed his kin to California from Lancaster, Massachusetts, and did much of his extraordinary research into plant genetics in nearby Sebastopol and Santa Rosa.

George began construction of the Victorian house where Anna Burbank and her daughter Annette now live in 1863. Lumber to build the elegant two-story home was brought by horse and wagon from Duncans Mills, and it took until 1867 to complete. The house sits proudly on a gentle rise overlooking pastureland and the riparian area adjacent to Stemple Creek which runs through the property. Date palms and hydrangeas add to the old-world feel of the front garden, and thanks to the loving care of several generations of Burbanks, the house still boasts many of its original furnishings. In the front parlor, the patriarch of the clan smiles down from a full-length portrait.

Today, Anna Burbank is keeper of the house, the ranch, and the family lore. She grew up in Petaluma, the daughter of a chicken farmer. She and her future husband met in high school and married in 1943. They moved to the Tomales house in 1959 and brought up their four daughters and one son there. Over the years, the Burbanks have raised dairy cows, sheep, and beef cattle. Anna and her son Bob now have a cow-calf operation, specializing in Angus beef calves which they grow to market size, then sell to a feed lot for finishing.

Co-owner Gwyn and his wife Doris live on an adjacent 270-acre ranch. Beginning in the 1940s, Gwyn's company, L.G. Burbank, Inc., did plowing, bulldozing, and earth-moving for other ranchers. Now he and Doris are kept busy raising sheep and beef cattle. "We're both retired," laughs Doris, who was employed in the business office of Shoreline Unified School District, "but we're working harder than ever."

The property has significant natural resources, including a portion of Stemple Creek that contains the most intact riparian forest anywhere on the stream. Along with the neighboring Poncia, Jensen, and David Burbank ranches, the Anna/Gwyn Burbank Ranch forms a pastoral landscape of almost 1000 acres protected by MALT easements. "We are proud to add this important property to the other permanently protected ranches in the Tomales area." said MALT's Bob Berner. "We're especially grateful to the State Coastal Conservancy, to donors to MALT's capital Campaign to Save Marin's Farmlands, and to the Marin Community Foundation which enabled us to purchase this easement, and to the property owners."

"We'll use the money from the MALT easement to build new fences and fix things that need fixing," Anna Burbank says. "We want to preserve what we have." And with those simple words, a 150-year-old legacy continues.


Ellen Straus, MALT Co-founder
Phyllis Faber, MALT Co-founder
Barboni Ranch, Hick's Valley
Big Rock Ranches, Nicasio
Burbank (Anna) Ranch, Tomales
Crayne Ranch, Tomales
Giacomini Ranch, Point Reyes Station
Grossi Ranch, Indian Valley
Ielmorini Ranch, Nicasio
Ielmorini-Moody Dairy, Valley Ford
Jensen (Anna) Ranch, Tomales
Jensen (Bill & Eileen) Ranch, Tomales
Jacobsen Ranch, Chileno Valley
Leiss Ranch, Chileno Valley
Parks (Lois) Ranch, Tomales
Moore Ranch, Nicasio Valley
Poncia (Eugene) Ranch, Tomales
Poncia (Al) Ranch, Tomales
Pozzi Ranch, Tomales
Straus Home & Dairy Ranches, Marshall
Tomales Farm & Dairy—East, Tomales
Tomales Farm & Dairy—West, Tomales
Zimmerman Ranch, Marshall

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