San Mateo County's oldest standing commercial building, built in 1851 by Dr. R.O. Tripp, where a site manager in the early 1990s reported encountering a large dog that dissolved — matching the breed in an archival photo of Tripp on display.
3300 Tripp Rd, Woodside, CA 94062
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Admission is free. Check current hours with San Mateo County History Museum.
Access
Limited Access
Historic 1851 building on rural property; uneven terrain outside
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1851 · Oldest Commercial Building in San Mateo County · California Historical Landmark · Gold Rush Era Peninsula History
Dr. Robert Orville Tripp arrived in California during the Gold Rush and settled in the redwood timber country of the Peninsula hills above what would become the town of Woodside. In 1851, he and a partner constructed the store building at the corner of Kings Mountain and Tripp roads — a two-story frame structure that would become the most important commercial address in the region for the next several decades.
Tripp practiced medicine without formal training — common in rural California in the 1850s — and operated the store's dental chair alongside the general merchandise and postal counter. The building served as the local post office from 1854, a function that gave Tripp a central role in the correspondence and commerce of a scattered farming and logging community. The store extended credit, kept accounts, and functioned as an informal bank at a time when formal banking had barely reached the Peninsula.
The redwood timber industry that built early Woodside declined by the late 19th century as the accessible stands were logged out. The store continued to operate in various forms into the 20th century before becoming a county-managed historic site. San Mateo County acquired the property and opened it as a museum; it is currently managed as part of the San Mateo County History Museum system and is recognized as the oldest surviving commercial building in San Mateo County.
Archival photographs from Tripp's era survive in the museum collection, including at least one showing Tripp with his dog. These photographs are displayed in the interpretive area.
Sources
The ghost of the Woodside Store is not a person. The account, reported by the site manager in the early 1990s, describes a large dog encountered in the museum's interpretive area during regular work hours. The animal appeared solid enough to register as real before dissolving — an experience the manager described in specific enough terms that it became part of the Woodside Store's documented oral history.
What distinguishes this from a generic animal-ghost story is the corroborating detail: the breed of dog the manager described matched the animal visible in an archival photograph of Dr. Tripp on display in the same room. She had not, by her account, paid particular attention to the photograph before the encounter; afterward, the match was obvious.
The Redwood City Pulse reported on the ghost dog account in October 2025, providing the most recent written documentation of the story with details from the museum context. The account has been part of the Woodside Store's interpretive tradition for at least three decades.
Tripp's attachment to his dog — evident from the photograph — gives the story a plausible emotional anchor. That the apparition appears in the interpretive space rather than a back room or storage area is an unusual detail for a building haunting; it places the presence where the museum's own documentation of Tripp's life is concentrated.
Notable Entities
The Woodside Store museum preserves the 1851 building with period furnishings and interpretive displays about Dr. Tripp and the store's roles as post office, bank, saloon, and dentist office. The archival photograph of Tripp with his dog — the same breed as the apparition reported by the site manager — is on display.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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