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A bent, beat-up green sign declaring "End County Road" greets drivers turning off Alpine Road onto Bishop Lane.

The sign hints at the relative isolation of Stanford Weekend Acres, a strip of unincorporated San Mateo County that lies next to the Stanford University golf course and is bordered by Alpine and San Francisquito Creek.

"It's a real rural flavor, rural sense," said Ron Miller, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1988.
"We're one minute from the freeway, yet I never see it or hear it."

Trees hang over narrow Bishop and Homer Lane, and wood fences and older-looking houses that flank the roads enhance the country atmosphere.

Miller lives in one of 10 tightly packed one-room cabins at the end of Homer Lane on an acre collectively owned by cabin residents.

Residents of the "Tenants in Common" share expenses for the upkeep of the property and use a communal washer and dryer, slipping two dollars into a wooden container every time they do a load.
Barbara Ann Barnett has lived on the property since 1969. At that time, residents of the cul-de-sac were active in the counter culture, including the Midpeninsula Free University.

She compared the official legal arrangement cul-de-sac residents currently have with the atmosphere of the late 1960s.

"There is a way in which the freedom of that era was apparent everywhere," she said, "both in terms of the lack of any kind of structure (and) the lack of anybody's need to have rules or regulations of any kind."

Stanford Weekend Acres is dotted with larger, modern looking houses. Some residents have gone to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in an attempt to limit the size of developments.

"The biggest concern of mine is people purchasing and building ... a huge mansion that's out of step, out of character with the neighborhood," Miller said.

Barnett praised her neighbors for their efforts in opposing the building of large homes, but was disappointed that past efforts haven't been successful.

"That's just the way it's going now," she said. "It's very sad."

Over on Sneckner Court, Tobias Freccia said he's followed residents' opposition to development but hasn't participated himself.

"The neighbors are pretty protective of their land," said Freccia, who moved to the neighborhood seven years ago.

Sneckner is wider than Bishop or Homer and has fewer trees, giving it a more suburban feel. But it still benefits from the relative isolation of the neighborhood.

"You wouldn't know it was here unless you knew it was here," said Freccia, an architectural designer who lives with his wife and three children.

Freccia said many young families have moved into the neighborhood since he arrived.
"The access to 280 and Stanford, you can't beat it," he said.

Being next to a creek and the Stanford hills, residents see and hear their fair share of wildlife.
"I woke up this morning at six o'clock: 'Hoo, hoo'," Barnett said, mimicking an owl's call. "Not unusual."

Miller said he often sees egrets, herons and ducks when he walks down into the creek. When the water level is low enough, he does exercises on the creek bed.

"It lends itself to meditative quietness, and you start listening to the water," he said. "So it's very unique in the middle of all this urban area to have this."

-- Bryce Druzin

FACTS

CHILD CARE & PRESCHOOLS: Trinity School, 2650 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
FIRE STATION: California Department of Forestry, but closest station is Menlo Park Fire District, 3322 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park
Nelson, 650-854-6377
LOCATION: Between Alpine Road and San Francisquito Creek and south of Stowe Lane, between Stanford Linear Accelerator and Stanford Golf Course
PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Las Lomitas School District -- Las Lomitas School, 299 Alameda de las Pulgas, Atherton; La Entrada School, 2200 Sharon Road, Menlo Park
Sequoia Union High School District -- Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Road, Atherton
SHOPPING: Ladera Country Shopper, Stanford Shopping Center
MEDIAN 2012 HOME PRICE: $1,507,400 (($980,000-$2,405,000)
HOMES SOLD: 4

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