A Little History on Rancho Camulos Museum

SPOTLIGHT A Little History on

Rancho Camulos Museum is located 10 for maintaining the traditional rancho miles west of Valencia on scenic Highway lifestyle long after it had disappeared THE HOME OF RAMONA 126. When the ranch was granted by Mexi- elsewhere. Camulos bustled with extended co’s California governor to Lt. Antonio del family members and ranch workers, with Rancho Camulos is also part of Valle in 1839, it spanned 48,000 acres of the up to 200 people living on the property literary folklore as the setting for Santa Clarita Valley including the present during years of peak agricultural produc- Helen Hunt Jackson’s novel Ramona, communities of Newhall, Saugus, Valencia, tion. Among the frequent guests at first published in 1884 and still in print Stevenson Ranch and surrounding areas. Camulos during the late 19th and early today. It is the romantic tale of a young Visitors can see the 1853 Del Valle 20th centuries were a number of promi- girl raised by a Spanish Californio adobe home, their 1860s chapel and other nent writers and artists, including Charles family who falls in love with an Indian features on most Sunday afternoons. Along F. Lummis, James Walker and Alexander ranch hand. Their life together mirrors a well traveled road known as El Camino Harmer, who were inspired time and again the fate of Indians at the hands of white Real (The King’s Highway) lies a place out by the rancho’s idyllic setting. settlers. With its tragic love story and of time…Rancho Camulos. It is one of the Camulos was a noted stop along the nostalgic view of history, the dramatic best surviving examples of an early Cali- main coach stage route—part of the tale captured the imagination of the fornia rancho in its original rural environ- original mission trail—from Los Angeles American public and created tremen- ment and stands as a vibrant reminder of to Santa Barbara. Padres traveling between dous interest in California’s Hispanic the state’s Spanish and Mexican heritage. San Fernando and San Buenaven- past. Tourists and settlers flocked to Established by Ygnacio Del Valle in 1853, tura would visit the ranch to say mass the region in huge numbers from the Rancho Camulos was once part of a 48,000 for the Del Valle family and the nearby late 1880’s until the beginning of WWII. acre Mexican land grant deeded to Ygna- residents in the private chapel, which over Rancho Camulos—once a stop on the cio’s father Antonio Del Valle in 1839. the years has become endearingly referred Southern Pacific rail line—was dubbed The Del Valles were a prominent Cali- to as “the lost mission.” Rancho Camulos “The Home of Ramona” and was a must- fornio family involved in state and local remained in the Del Valle family until 1924 see attraction for devotees of the novel. politics during the Mexican period and when it was sold to August Rübel, whose For more information visit: http:// after its transition to statehood. They were heirs have worked to protect and preserve ranchocamulos.org/ famous for their generous hospitality and the site.

60 June/July 2017 www.scvélitemagazine.com

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