The Lyford House on
Richardson Bay in Tiburon, California, was the home of Benjamin Lyford (1841–1906), a doctor in the Union Army who was born in
New Hampshire and raised in
Cabot, Vermont. He migrated to
San Francisco after the
American Civil War to practice medicine. He married Hilarita née Reed (1839–1908), the daughter of
John Reed, an Irish immigrant who was granted the
Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio, literally "the place where wood is cut for the Presidio", which today comprises the peninsula incorporating Tiburon,
Belvedere and much of southern
Marin County. The Lyford House was originally located at Strawberry Point as part of Lyford's Eagle Dairy Ranch. It was moved by barge in December 1957 when threatened with demolition and is now owned by the
National Audubon Society. The new home's location was on eleven acres belonging to Rose Verrall, who'd lived there for decades and eventually donated the land and property that would become the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary. The Benjamin Lyford House was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 2000. In December 2002 the house was damaged when a tree crashed through the roof. It was closed for a year of restoration, reopening in 2004. ==References==