Local Color & Legendary Big Red

In the nineteenth century, our Russian River Valley neighborhood was a colorful, prosperous ranching area inhabited by self-reliant pioneers.  The legendary queen of these parts was Bernadette Randall, or BR, as she signed her name. Spirited and striking with a flowing mane of auburn hair, she answered to her nickname, Big Red.

At 5 foot 9 inches, this green-eyed beauty walked like a woman and rode horse like a man.  With her signature felt Stetson tied under her chin, she traveled the area with style and speed - always astride, never by sidesaddle.  Big Red was at home in the valley, exploring vineyards, orchards and wheat fields.  She herded cattle and sheep, harvested hops and walnuts, and expertly fished the Russian River, bragging that she once caught 24 steelhead in 2 hours.

Big Red’s family farm was up river from our ranch, closer to Mill Creek where her father and uncles ran a saw mill.  The brothers supplied the redwood timbers and siding for our blacksmith shop, the oldest (1870) building on the ranch.

1880 proved a pivotal year in the area.  Sol Walters purchased our ranch and began building the structures that eventually won historic landmark status for this outstanding property.  Of course, Big Red knew all the workmen and watched as they built the ranch’s sheep barn, the largest on Westside Road.  The next structure was the lambing shed, between the blacksmith and the barn, which sheltered the ewes and their newborns during winter weather.

Hops had become a major crop in the area, and in 1905 rancher Walters decided to build a hops dryer to serve local farmers.  The structure was to be functional, using barn-style architecture and pre-20th century technology.  Construction was a race against time with many neighbors betting that it would not be finished for the ‘05 hops harvest.  Big Red cheered on the crew of 25 men working under stonemason Angelo “Skinny” Sodini.  With massive redwood timbers from her family’s mill and stone from nearby Felta Creek, the construction team hurried to complete our majestic, 3-story Hop Kiln in 35 days.