People have now started telling me about other Edgehills and Edge Hills they’ve heard of and today’s hat tip goes to Andy Butler for pointing me to Edgehill Mountain Park in the Golden State.
Edgehill Mountain Park might be stretching the definition of mountain a little but it looks interesting nonetheless. A little searching led me to edgehill.net and some photos on Flickr. Paul Furman of Bay Natives (San Francisco’s premier source for California native plants :-)) has kindly said I can use a few of the photos and pointed me to some more information.
Edgehill Mountain Park was founded in 1985:
Edgehill Mountain is part of a western San Francisco greenbelt which stretches through the center of the city, connecting Mt. Davidson, Hawk Hill, Twin Peaks, and the area around Laguna Honda reservoir. Originally part of Adolph Sutro’s San Miguel Ranch, the property was sold following his death in 1898. After the land became one of the city’s first subdivisions, known as Claremont Court, houses were built on the mountain’s western and southern slopes. The first major problems began in 1952 and ’53 when winter rains sent part of Edgehill Way and one home sliding down the mountain. In 1985, Edgehill Mountain Park was established when the city purchased one acre of the mountain’s undeveloped western slope and designated the area an Open Space Park. In 1997, a slope above some newly constructed homes collapsed during a rainstorm, cascading mud and rock onto the houses below and sending an unmistakable warning that the park could not survive the environmental destruction generated by further residential development.
We also have maps of Edgehill Mountain Park allowing me to satisfy one of my other obsessions!
It’s a shame I hadn’t heard of Edgehill Mountain Park last year when I drove from San Francisco to New York – maybe I’ll pay a visit next time I’m over there!