Soon after the capture of Patty Hearst, the family moved out and donated the land to the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The Church turned the property into a retreat center which is why there are so many bedrooms in the mansion and six cottages on the grounds. It operated as a retreat center until the late 1990’s when a ranching family, the Cardoza’s purchased it from the Church. They also farmed the Tolay Lake tract to the south of Silver Penny and sold that land to Sonoma Land Trust at the turn of this century. It was developed into a park by Sonoma Regional Parks and has just recently been open to the public.
