Haunted by its past, like an echo that never ends....
The Hidden Manor of the San Lorenzo ValleyPhillips Hurst. River Wood Manor. Musgrave Mansion. Blake Hammond Manor.
Over the years, this remarkable 22,000-square-foot English-style castle, hidden along Highway 9 in the San Lorenzo Valley, has been known by several names. Tucked away among the redwoods and sitting near the flowing waters of the San Lorenzo River, it remains largely hidden from public view—a shadowy piece of local history that can easily escape notice.
Like an elusive black pearl, this secluded estate conceals a history of its own.
Originally known as Phillips Hurst, the property has documented records dating back to at least 1913. It was initially owned by Dr. W. A. Phillips, who designed the estate as a country home for himself and his wife. The couple later called the property River Wood Manor, where they entertained guests and hosted lavish weddings and social gatherings.
Dr. W. A. Phillips and his brother, P. T. Phillips, were both recognized surgeons associated with Hanley Hospital in Santa Cruz. W. A. Phillips was also well known throughout the San Lorenzo Valley, particularly around
Brookdale, where he was often called upon to provide medical assistance to those in need.
By 1924, River Wood Manor had been sold to Phillips' medical colleague and friend, Dr. William E. Musgrave.
Musgrave was a prominent scientist whose career took him around the world, including work in China, India, and the Philippines. He also served as editor of California Western Medicine and as director of a California children's hospital.
After acquiring the estate, Musgrave began an ambitious renovation, transforming the original country home from approximately 8,000 square feet into more than 20,000 square feet of living space.
To oversee the massive undertaking, he hired renowned designer Albert Farr, whose work would later include Jack London's famed Wolf House in Sonoma County.
What emerged from the renovation was far more than a country estate.
It became a castle hidden within the San Lorenzo Valley.
And over the decades, its history would become just as mysterious as its architecture.
River Wood ManorThe result?
River Wood Manor became an enormous English, almost Gothic-style castle. With ten bedrooms, multiple kitchens, upstairs and downstairs apartments, a music room, library, massive living spaces, a covered porch, and an extraordinary garden filled with exotic blooms and the sweet scent of lilacs, the estate was an impressive and somewhat ominous sight to behold.
However, Dr. Musgrave would have little time to enjoy his newly refurbished estate.
By 1927, Dr. Musgrave died suddenly in his bed at River Wood Manor from pneumonia. According to accounts, his final wish was to be interred on the property. It is believed that his remains remain somewhere on the estate.
By 1935, River Wood Manor was sold once again, this time to a Los Angeles physician, Dr. Theodore Hammond Smith.
Dr. Smith had an entirely different vision for the property.
Following a family tradition of medical work, Hammond established a boarding facility and school for children with physical disabilities and developmental challenges—children whose families, for one reason or another, were unable to care for them at home. The facility would eventually become known as the Blake Hammond School.
Yet despite the change in purpose, Dr. Hammond maintained the grand appearance of River Wood Manor. He continued to entertain medical colleagues, scientists, and others involved in advancing medical technology, hosting lavish gatherings within the estate's impressive walls.
Behind the manor, Hammond utilized the property's 22 acres, extending the grounds toward the San Lorenzo River. A bridge was constructed across the river to the adjacent property, and a railway stop was reportedly established nearby so that young passengers could be brought directly to the developing facility.
The children arriving there represented a very different chapter in the history of the estate—young lives separated from their families and placed in an institution intended to provide the care they needed.
The facility once known as the Blake Hammond School is today referred to as The L House.
And with its transformation, River Wood Manor's story took another, much darker turn.
Filmed & created by: Executive Producer, Jay Alvarez. S.C.G.H -L-House Video 2020
THE L - HOUSE
The L HouseThe L House, built in the 1930s, was a dormitory-style facility designed to house children and young patients. The building included an infirmary, communal showers, steel bathtubs, a mess hall, and, in the distance, a plantation-style residence believed to have housed members of the onsite staff.
The facility itself was constructed in the shape of an L, giving rise to the name by which it became known.
But behind the orderly appearance of an institution designed to care for vulnerable children lies a darker history.
Located behind Blake Hammond Manor, The L House was intended to provide housing and care for children with physical and developmental disabilities. Yet over the years, rumors emerged of experimentation, neglect, mistreatment, and the exploitation of children who were unable to defend themselves.
What makes those stories particularly unsettling is that some of the concerns appear to be reflected, at least indirectly, in the institution's own written records.
Among the facility's bylaws are passages outlining extensive protections for the institution against liability for inappropriate actions by employees, as well as circumstances that could potentially result in the injury or death of a patient. The language is difficult to read through a modern lens, particularly when patients were at times referred to simply as “IT.”
A single word can reveal much about how people were viewed.
To call a vulnerable child it strips away the identity of a person and reduces them to something rather than someone. Whether the language reflected the medical terminology of its time or something more disturbing, it remains an unsettling part of The L House's history.
And if the rumors of neglect and mistreatment were true, the question becomes even darker:
How many children passed through those doors, suffered in silence, and left behind more than their names?
The Missing and the DeadIn 1947, something unthinkable happened.
A sixteen-year-old student named Lewis Cole disappeared from The L House at the Blake Hammond School. Cole was described in records as deaf and mute, although later accounts suggested he was not actually deaf and mute, but simply a very quiet young man.
He was also described as severely underweight for his size, despite having a fascination with food, and reportedly disliked wearing shoes. Employees recalled that Cole often wandered toward the new construction area on the property.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., Lewis Cole was reported missing.
Police were notified, and a search began almost immediately. For days, law enforcement officers and volunteers searched the surrounding property on foot, on horseback, and even from the air.
Nothing.
The boy had simply vanished.
Then, in 1950, four boys playing near the Blake Hammond School discovered partial skeletal remains. Authorities believed the remains belonged to sixteen-year-old Lewis Cole.
But Lewis was not the only person connected to The L House whose disappearance raised questions.
1947 — Harley Walthen, age 27, was reported missing from The L House at the Blake Hammond School. Authorities were notified, but there appears to be no documented account of his return or recovery.
1948 — Christofferson, age 52, an employee at the Blake Hammond School, was reported missing. A body later found stabbed to death was believed to be his, and Dr. Theodore Smith Hammond was called upon to identify the remains.
1949 — George Lowder, age 28, died in a horrific tractor accident on the Blake Hammond property while working near the construction area associated with The L House. He was reportedly crushed to death during excavation work.
Three consecutive years.
A missing student whose remains were not discovered for years. An employee who disappeared and was later believed to have been found murdered. And a young man crushed beneath machinery while working on the property.
Whether these deaths were nothing more than tragic coincidences, the result of dangerous working conditions, or part of something more sinister is impossible to know.
But when the history of The L House is viewed as a whole, these stories are difficult to ignore.
Some people entered through its doors and were never seen alive again.
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The End of an EraIn 1969, Dr. Theodore Hammond Smith died from pancreatic cancer. With his passing, the cost of maintaining the sprawling Blake Hammond Manor and its surrounding property became too great for the family to sustain.
The Blake Hammond School closed its doors. The children who had lived there were transferred to other facilities and institutions throughout California, while the manor's extensive acreage was subdivided and placed on the market—including Blake Hammond Manor itself.
For nearly a decade, the great estate sat vacant.
There were attempts to find a new purpose for the property. Proposals were made to transform the manor into a residential care facility and later into a drug rehabilitation center, but the necessary use permits were ultimately denied.
So the manor remained empty.
A once-grand estate, surrounded by memories of the people who had lived and died there, now stood largely silent—its rooms abandoned and its future uncertain.
The Blake Hammond School closed its doors. The children who had lived there were transferred to other facilities and institutions throughout California, while the manor's extensive acreage was subdivided and placed on the market—including Blake Hammond Manor itself.
For nearly a decade, the great estate sat vacant.
There were attempts to find a new purpose for the property. Proposals were made to transform the manor into a residential care facility and later into a drug rehabilitation center, but the necessary use permits were ultimately denied.
So the manor remained empty.
A once-grand estate, surrounded by memories of the people who had lived and died there, now stood largely silent—its rooms abandoned and its future uncertain.
A New Beginning—and Another Tragedy
In 1977, a new prospective owner was captivated by the majestic, almost haunting presence of the old manor. Patricia Wilder, the daughter of a physician and a familiar name in the Santa Cruz area, had previously owned the historic and reportedly haunted Golden Gate Villa, remaining associated with the property until her death in 2014.
Wilder and her husband envisioned restoring the neglected estate and preserving its distinctive historic character. Over the years that followed, they painstakingly remodeled the manor, bringing new life back into the once-abandoned property.
Eventually, the Wilder's opened the doors for a limited number of private gatherings and public tours, allowing others to experience the grandeur of the historic estate.
For a time, it seemed the manor had finally been given a second life.
Then tragedy struck.
On April 13, 1996, a murder-suicide was discovered inside the historic home, abruptly ending the brief period of renewed life within its walls.
The manor's history had taken another dark turn.
Jonathon Denison Marsh and Katherine Lynn Novelle, a Scotts Valley waitress. Both age 42. Were found deceased in the studio apartment Marsh rented in the Manor. A local painting contractor (Watts) working on the manor, along with Wilder, were doing minor repairs on the mansion at the time of the discovery. Wilder was under the crawl space addressing an alleged leak below the servants quarters to which Marsh rented. Upon further investigation, the two went to Marsh's room. The door was open, Watts entered the room, over come by the excessive heat, claiming it was at least 90 degrees in the room, when he found the pair laying side by side on the floor towards the rear of the apartment. Watts initially thought the pair were asleep on the floor, until he noted the gun near Marsh's hand and the stiffness of the limbs, as he tried to awake the pair. Both bodies were laying face up. The coroner concluded Marsh shot Novelle twice in the chest, before killing himself. The leak reported in the manor, had never been found.
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2021 To date. The Blake Hammond Manor, is a privately owned residence. Trespassing is not permitted. The L. House which is owned separately, has since been remodeled from its former motif and is utilized as private residences. Trespassing is not permitted.
Blakehammond.LHouse2021©S.C.G.H.2020/21/26