Shannon-Williamson Ranch

This 398-acre farm on Lone Tree Way in Antioch began as a 160-acre homestead claimed by Irish immigrants Thomas and Mary Ann Shannon in 1867. They grew wheat, barley and hay. William Williamson, Mary Ann's son-in-law, bought the original acreage in 1888 and ran the farm until his death in 1929. After the original log cabin burned around 1894, he and his wife Elizabeth built the present house in two phases, c. 1895 and c. 1896. The complex also holds a tank house, granary, bunk house, cow and buggy barn, horse barn, hay barn, garage, cistern and the site of an early privy. Farm implements and furnishings from the late 1800s are stored in the barns. The property was listed because it is the only 19th century ranch complex in eastern Contra Costa County preserved intact, and it shows the grain-growing economy that once dominated the county. Descendants of the Shannons still own it.