Driving through Garden Valley on Marshall Road, headed east, you'll pass a old rock ruin of a building next to the real estate office. This is all that remains of "Bill Tell's" store, built in 1855. It was owned by a Mr. William Pedrini, who owned a large parcel of land west of Garden Valley, known then as "Tell's" Ranch. During winter the cattle would stay in Garden Valley, but during summer they would drive their cattle up-country into the high Sierra, near "Tell's Peak". His nephew, Rinaldo Filipini arrived from Switzerland in 1859, and became the stores clerk. During the 1870's this family had one of the largest dairies in El Dorado County. In 1875 Rinaldo became a partner in the business, and through the years the place became known as, "The Filipini Store".
Garden Valley had two big dairy ranches during the 1880's, The Filipini and Bacchi ranches. The Filipini Ranch, in 1881 produced four ton's of cheese, and 3 ton's of butter! It's called Garden Valley for a reason. In 1909 the store was sold to A.F. Forni, so the man in the picture above could be Mr. Filipini .
During the relative quiet of the 1930's in The Foothills, it housed the Garden Valley post office, and still had a pine bar from the early days. During the 1930's the wooden parts of the building were destroyed, and today all that remains today is the stone foundation, wall's, and two steel doors you can see when driving by.
The old stone building today on Marshall Road.