Meyers Garden – Horticulture and history meet

People who have lived in the area their whole lives will come here and say, “I never knew this was here.” Jeff Bennett, gardener of East Bay Regional Park District’s Dry Creek knows that the park he tends, also known as Meyers Garden, is one of the most beautiful hidden gems in the East Bay.

Meyers Garden was the summer residence of three sisters, Mildred, Edith and Jeanette Meyers. The cottage was built in 1900 and the garden itself is the product of decades of design. At different times of the year, it assumes different characters depending on which plants are in bloom.

“This time of year, October, November, to me is the most beautiful,” says Bennett, pointing toward the majestic sycamores, garbed in massive yellow foliage. The beauty of Meyers Garden isn’t just in the flowers, “its also about the fall colors.”

The Meyers sisters were the daughters of Henry Meyers and his wife and childhood friend Bertha (née May), married in 1894. In the 1880s Bertha’s father August May, a successful rancher, had purchased 1308 acres next to his 160-acre ranch in the foothills near Decoto, a recently established town just east of Alvarado. Upon his passing the ranch passed to Bertha’s mother, Sophia May, and then to Bertha after Sophia’s death in 1930.

Henry Meyers was a successful architect who with his partner Clarence Ward, designed around 75 commercial and industrial building in and around San Francisco that were mostly destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Today he is known for the Posey Tube Portals at the head of the Oakland/Alameda Tunnel and several Veterans Memorial buildings around the East Bay.

Meyers also designed the family residence on Alameda and, when his mother-in-law Sophia, who lived with the family, wanted a small summer retreat on her family property, designed the cottage that stands at Dry Creek today. Built in 1900 and designed along the lines of the New Colonial style prevalent at the time, it had two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. (No bathroom—outhouses served the function.) Later expansions in 1915, and then around 1928, brought the cottage to its present day configuration, which includes two additional bedrooms, and a bathroom.

The three daughters all attended the University of California.  Mildred Sophia Meyers (1898-1982) graduated with a degree in architecture in 1921. Edith Mary Meyers (1900-71) graduated from the U.C. School of Medicine 1926 and joined the staff of Oakland Children’s Hospital. After retiring in 1960, she donated $50,000 for a meeting hall at the hospital that bears her name. Jeanette Bertha Meyers attended UC for two years, but did not graduate; her avocation was gardening. The sisters lived together their whole lives and never married.

By 1930, improvements included the front gate, a footbridge over the creek and the core of the garden. In the decade that followed, under Henry’s direction, the family added new planting beds, trees, rock-lined paths, steps, benches, a second footbridge, a new water tank, and other amenities. After Mr. Meyers’ passing in 1936, Mildred, with her interest in architecture, became the primary designer of the gardens. She drew the plans for the paths, stone steps, a fountain, trellises, benches, lampposts, and a cabana for the heated pool, added in 1950.

Dry Creek, so named for its seasonal dry spell during summer and fall, is occasionally prone to flooding.  Earlier this year, the nearby hills funneled a torrent through the garden, eroding pathways. Video shot by Bennett shows the “dry creek” nearly overflowing its banks. “People who see it dry ask if it ever flows,” says Bennett. “It does flow, and it does flood.”

This year the creek may start flowing earlier. “We still have a little pond underneath the bridge,” says Bennett, “which is usually gone by the first part of August, but the groundwater is high enough to preserve it. It’s not going to take much more rain to get the creek started this year.”

In addition to native plants, non-natives have always had a home in the garden. “The sisters loved ‘Sunset’ magazine,” says Bennett, “and whatever Sunset was introducing, they had to have it. We have agapanthus and ivy, and throwbacks to the old days.”

Every August from 1952 through 1972 the sisters hosted a fundraising party at Dry Creek for the Alameda Welfare Council. The themed parties drew hundreds of women from around the Bay Area. Each was a bazaar with booths and interesting wares. Lunch was served beneath the trees, followed by swimming and cards.

When a freeway was proposed that would run through the ranch in 1961, Edith went to the State Highway Commission hearing. There she told the commissioners of the “gently rolling hills, clear coursing streams, giant oaks, sweeping sycamores, and abundance of wild life,” adding, “we are three sisters with no immediate heirs, three women who wrote this plan [to deed the land for public recreation] into our wills five years ago and who have refused fabulous sums of money so as to keep our land intact for the use someday by all the people.”

Fortunately, a law was passed that prevented any public agency from exercising eminent domain upon another public agency in the case where the land has been donated, such as the sisters had done with the 1200 acres adjacent to Dry Creek, now Pioneer Park. Because of the sisters’ skill in conveying their property to EBRPD,  “this is protected forever,” says Bennett, “for the public to come and enjoy.”

There are picnic tables and benches. People can bring their lunch (but no BBQs or big parties.) There are chickens, herb gardens, and, coming next year, an iris garden sponsored by the American Iris Society. The garden is a popular spot for birders and photographers, and many come to see if they can spy wildlife.

The gardens also yield produce, including apricots, oranges, pumpkins, persimmons, 116 kinds of tomatoes and 60 kinds of peppers. Visitors are allowed to sample the ripe fresh produce for themselves, as long as they leave some for others.

“It’s a very peaceful place,” says Bennett. “It’s not a formal garden. People ask me where the signs are with the names. We’re just a cottage garden; if they want to know what the names of the plants are, we’re happy to tell them.”

Meyer Garden/ Dry Creek is located at the end of May Road, which begins where Whipple ends at Mission Blvd. Hours are Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information at http://www.ebparks.org/parks/garin, (510) 429-7713.