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Mountain Home Road & Portola Road, Woodside Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
South Woodside on the valley floor between Woodside Road and Jasper Ridge: Mountain Home Road, Portola Road and the Family Farm Drive tail, on lots of about three acres, mostly in the Portola Valley School District.
Mountain Home Road & Portola Road by the numbers
mountain home road & portola road by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Mountain Home Road & Portola Road (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in mountain home road & portola road · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Mountain Home Road & Portola Road
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Mountain Home Road & Portola Road from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
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Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (Mountain Home Road & Portola Road (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Mountain Home Road & Portola Road came to be
Much of this ground was once the Mountain Home Ranch. The Town's General Plan history says Charles Brown bought about 2,880 acres of the Copinger rancho around 1840 and named it Mountain Home Ranch; he is credited with one of the first sawmills on the Peninsula, and his 1839 adobe still stands near Portola Road. The Town's list of historic resources also marks the site of San Mateo County's first sawmill on Alambique Creek, east of Portola Road near the La Honda Road junction.
Just east, at the Sand Hill Road and Portola Road corner, a historic marker recalls Searsville. The General Plan says John Sears bought land there in 1854 and built a hotel and other businesses; Searsville was the largest village in the area until 1891, when the Spring Valley Water Company built the dam that made Searsville Lake. The lake became part of Stanford's Jasper Ridge preserve in 1975. After the redwoods were cut, vines came in: in 1894 San Francisco banker John A. Hooper planted a 30-acre vineyard on the former Brown property, and the General Plan says three acres of the Hooper Vineyard still hold some of the area's only 19th-century vines.
The land was divided slowly. The Town's subdivision table lists Portola Woods (1909; about 521 acres in 121 parcels averaging 4.3 acres), then a run of Town-era tracts after incorporation in 1956: Mountain Home (1958), Hidden Valley Farm (1959, 25 parcels averaging about 5 acres), Los Robles (1960), Forest Glade Estates (1974), Meadowood (1979), Manzanita Hills (1981) and Why Worry Farm (1987).
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Mountain Home Road is the spine. It runs south from the town center for about two miles to Portola Road, with lanes branching off both sides: Mountain Wood Lane, Robles Drive, Roberta Drive, Turkey Farm Lane, Hooper Lane, Shadowbrook Lane, Vineyard Hill Road, Blue Ridge Lane and Vintage Court. To the east, Manzanita Way, Winding Way and Whiskey Hill Road reach Sand Hill Road along the Jasper Ridge fence. On the west side, Woodside Road frontage, Why Worry Lane, Smoke Tree Lane, Montelena Court and Bridle Lane sit across from Wunderlich Park. This is the valley floor: USGS points put the ground between about 300 and 450 feet.
South of Sand Hill Road, a narrow tail of Town land follows Portola Road toward Portola Valley: Family Farm Drive (spelled 'Drive' in county records, 'Road' on some maps), Farm Road, Hidden Valley Lane, Trail Lane and Woodview Lane. Map H1 places Hidden Valley Farm here. Family Farm Drive shares its name with the Family Farm, which the Open Space Element describes as a 63-acre private club property established in 1909; it is not public land.
County parcel maps count about 235 single-family parcels with a median lot of about 3.3 acres, and about one in six carries an ADU code. The Town's 2017 zoning map shows Rural Residential (three-acre minimum for new lots) over most of the area, with Special Conservation Planning districts (five acres or more) toward Portola Road and in the Family Farm tail. Horse barns, arenas and vineyard rows are common enough that the General Plan counts more than thirty small backyard vineyards in town; county data has no year-built field, so house ages are not characterized here.
streets in mountain home road & portola road
- Mountain Home Road
- Portola Road
- Woodside Road
- Whiskey Hill Road
- Sand Hill Road
- Manzanita Way
- Winding Way
- Mountain Wood Lane
- Robles Drive
- Roberta Drive
- Turkey Farm Lane
- Hooper Lane
- Shadowbrook Lane
- Vineyard Hill Road
- Blue Ridge Lane
- Vintage Court
- Why Worry Lane
- Smoke Tree Lane
- Montelena Court
- Bridle Lane
- Sand Hill Court
- Tadin Lane
- Family Farm Drive
- Farm Road
- Hidden Valley Lane
- Trail Lane
- Woodview Lane
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Mountain Home Road & Portola Road
- park
Wunderlich County Park
942 acres donated to the county by Martin Wunderlich in 1972 (General Plan), with its entrance at 4040 Woodside Road, about 0.7 mile straight-line from the middle of the area. The county lists hiking and horseback trails and drop-in picnic tables; the restored Folger Estate stable is a National Register historic district.
- landmark
Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve and Searsville Lake
Stanford's 1,189-acre research preserve, including Searsville Lake, lines the east side of Sand Hill Road. The General Plan calls it a highly restricted nature preserve, so it is a view, not a park.
- landmark
Site of Searsville
One of the Town's 22 recognized historic resources, with a marker at the Sand Hill Road and Portola Road intersection on the area's east edge.
- park
Thornewood Preserve
A 167-acre Midpen preserve with a 0.75-mile trail to Schilling Lake. Its gate is on La Honda Road, 1.6 miles past the Portola Road junction (Midpen); hiking, horses on marked trails and leashed dogs on designated trails.
- shopping
Woodside town center
The small commercial strip on Woodside Road around the Cañada and Mountain Home Road corner is about 1.4 miles straight-line north; Portola Valley's town center is about 2.7 miles straight-line south.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
This area is split between two elementary districts. U.S. Census school-district maps, tested at every county address point, put about 56% of the addresses in the Portola Valley School District (all of Portola Road, Family Farm Drive, Farm Road, Hidden Valley Lane, Sand Hill Road and the southern half of Mountain Home Road) and the rest in the Woodside Elementary School District (Robles, Roberta, Mountain Wood, Winding Way and the northern blocks of Mountain Home Road, Manzanita Way and Whiskey Hill Road). The line crosses those three roads around latitude 37.416, near the 600 block of Mountain Home Road. Portola Valley's district lists Ormondale (TK-3) and Corte Madera (4-8); Woodside's is a single K-8 school at 3195 Woodside Road. High school is the Sequoia Union High School District. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
Woodside Elementary guide · Portola Valley School District guide · Sequoia Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- I-280: the Sand Hill Road interchange is about 1.8 miles and the Woodside Road (SR 84) interchange about 1.7 miles straight-line from the middle of the area.
- Caltrain: Menlo Park station is about 4.8 miles and Redwood City station about 5.3 miles straight-line; we found no bus route on Mountain Home or Portola roads.
- Sand Hill Road runs from Whiskey Hill Road past Jasper Ridge toward I-280 and Stanford; Portola Road continues south into Portola Valley.
- Woodside Road becomes La Honda Road (Hwy 84) at the Portola Road junction and climbs to Skyline Boulevard at Skylonda, about 1.8 miles straight-line.
- Trails: the Town's equestrian trail network threads the area, and Wunderlich Park's trails start at 4040 Woodside Road.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Mountain Home Road & Portola Road: what we check
Buying here
- Check the elementary district by address. The Woodside and Portola Valley district line runs through the middle of this area, crossing Mountain Home Road, Manzanita Way and Whiskey Hill Road.
- Check the San Andreas fault zone. The fault runs along Woodside Road and Portola Road here; by county maps the state Alquist-Priolo zone covers about 63% of the residential parcels, including much of Woodside Road, Manzanita Way, Whiskey Hill Road and the Family Farm tail. The Town requires 50-foot setbacks from known traces and 125 feet from inferred ones; the Town's geologic map also shows expansive Whiskey Hill Formation bedrock on the east side.
- Plan on septic and verify the system. LAFCo says most of Woodside is on septic, and the Town's 2022 sewer map shows no sewer district here; new or expanded systems need Town and county permits and percolation testing.
- Read the fire zone for the parcel. CAL FIRE's February 2025 local map puts more than nine in ten residential parcels here in a Moderate zone and a few near Woodside Road in High. Woodside Fire Protection District fuel-mitigation rules still apply.
- Run zoning and slope before planning: RR needs three acres per new lot and SCP five or more, so few lots here are big enough for a conventional subdivision; ask the Town how its SB 9 standards apply to a given parcel. Projects within 1,000 feet of scenic roads (Mountain Home, Portola, Woodside, Whiskey Hill and Sand Hill roads all qualify) go to the Architectural and Site Review Board.
Selling here
- Confirm and state the school district for the address; buyers will ask, and the line splits neighbors on the same road.
- Assemble the septic file (county permits, pumping and inspection reports) and well records if the property has a well.
- Document barns, arenas, second units and fencing with permits; on three-acre lots these drive value and buyer questions.
- Pull the fault-zone and geologic reports early; a known Alquist-Priolo status and any prior geologic studies reduce surprises in escrow.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Mountain Home Road & Portola Road questions, answered
Do Family Farm Drive and Hidden Valley Lane homes have Woodside or Portola Valley addresses?
Woodside. County address points and assessor records list every Family Farm Drive, Farm Road and Hidden Valley Lane address with a Woodside mailing city and ZIP 94062, and Census maps put them inside the Town of Woodside. They are in the Portola Valley School District, which may be why listings group them with Portola Valley.
Which school district serves Mountain Home Road?
Both, depending on the block. Census maps put the northern blocks in the Woodside Elementary School District and the southern half, from roughly the 600 block south, in the Portola Valley School District. Confirm the address with the districts.
Is this area in the Town of Woodside?
Yes. County parcel records show all but one parcel inside Town limits, so Town planning and permits apply; septic permits also go through San Mateo County Environmental Health.
Can you visit Jasper Ridge or Searsville Lake?
Not casually. The General Plan describes Jasper Ridge as a highly restricted Stanford research preserve. Wunderlich Park and Thornewood Preserve, both nearby, are open to the public.
How big are the lots?
County parcel maps give a median of about 3.3 acres, with the middle half between about 3 and 4.4 acres and roughly 40 parcels of five acres or more.
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