HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE – Lake County’s oldest building, Stone House, will be open for public tours Sunday, April 26, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 18174 Hidden Valley Road, Hidden Valley Lake (HVL). Old and new quilts will be displayed and a hand-made quilt will be raffled off.

Visitors arriving April 26 should access Stone House via Hartmann Road, turning left at the HVL gate, pressing the intercom button to say they’re visiting Stone House, then continuing on Hidden Valley Road.

Historic Stone House (www.lakecountystonehouse.com) was built in 1853-4 by Robert Sterling whose wife was the first white woman in Coyote Valley. It was headquarters for the Guenoc Land Grant and the valley’s first store.

Stone House was declared State Registered Landmark No. 450 by California’s Centennial Commission in 1950. A small pillar with plaque is posted along high 29, six miles north of Middletown, just outside HVL’s old main gate.

Today, Stone House is filled with furnishings that reflect the lifestyles of days long gone. Stone House was a family residence until the mid-1960s, so some modernization occurred like electricity and hardwood floors. Some walls are plastered; but the interior walls are historic hand-sawn 2x12 redwood timbers.

Stone House is owned by the Hidden Valley Lake homeowner association and is maintained by Stone House Historical Society. The historical society meets monthly on the first Tuesday at 10 am. During the reconstruction of the HVLA recreation room, the group meets at the HVL Country Club.

For more information, see www.lakecountystonehouse.com or call 707-987-7370.