William Randolph III

Patty Hearst’s brother, William Randolph III, purchased the property in the early 1970’s to serve as a place to hide his sister after she had been kidnapped by the Symbonese Liberation Party. He hired detectives to find Patty before the cops got her so that the family could de-program her.  Well, she was caught before her brother could get to her and spent time behind bars for her collaboration with her captors. It was the Hearst family who named the farm Silver Penny after a beloved children’s poetry book.  They developed the gardens and spent a bit of time living in the house, using the water tower as an office and art studio.