Rancho Camulos

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Rancho Camulos
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
A view of Rancho Camulos from the northwest.
Location:	Piru, California
Coordinates:	34°24′20.34″N, 118°45′24″W
Built/Founded:	1853
Architect:	unknown
Architectural style(s):	Mission/Spanish Revival
Added to NRHP:	November 1, 1996
Reference #:	96001137 ^[1]
Governing body:	Private

Rancho Camulos, just east of Piru, California on California State Route 126, was the home of Californio Ygnacio del Valle, an alcalde of Los Angeles and member of the California State Assembly. The rancho was also known as the "Home of Ramona" because the rancho lifestyle was the setting for Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel Ramona. Several scenes from the 1910 film version were shot here.

The home is now a California Historical Landmark (#553) and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NPS-96001137). In addition, a ten-acre portion of the rancho is designated a National Historic Landmark.

1 History
2 Ramona
3 Footnotes
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Originally a Tataviam village named Kamulus, the area was used by Mission San Fernando Rey de España for growing crops and as a grazing area for livestock as early as 1804. It was included in the 48,612-acre (19,672.6 ha) Rancho San Francisco granted to Del Valle's father, Antonio del Valle, administrator of Mission San Fernando, by Governor Juan B. Alvarado on January 22, 1839, after the secularization of the missions.

After Antonio's death in 1841, the land was split among his children and his second wife, with Ygnacio receiving the western portion, Camulos. He purchased some of the other portions from his family as well as the neighboring Rancho Temescal, constructed a four-room adobe house and a corral on the land. However, del Valle and his family did not live on the rancho initially, instead settling in house on what is now Olvera Street in Los Angeles. The del Valle family did not move back to the rancho, which he had expanded, in 1861.

In the 1860s, a drought forced del Valle to sell off much of his land, but Camulos not only survived, but thrived. By the time of his death in 1880, the house had expanded to twenty rooms and the compound had become a self-sustaining ranch, complete with a brick winery, chapel, barn and workers' housing. Records indicate that in 1870 the rancho was largest of the four vintners in the San Buenaventura Township of Santa Barbara County, and it was the source of the first commercially grown oranges in Ventura County (which was created in 1873).

In 1908, the del Valle Company was incorporated by Ygnacio's children, but by 1924, the rancho was sold to August Rübel. Upon its sale, the Los Angeles Times lamented,

“

An era in the history of California closed yesterday. The del Valles of Camulos bade farewell to the homestead where they have lived in successive generations since Antonio del Valle. It was the passing of the old regime. They are said to be the last of the old Spanish families who held in unbroken succession to the ancestral acres.^[2]

”

Rübel continued operating the rancho in the same manner as the del Valles, employing many of same workers. After his death in 1943, his wife Mary remarried Edwin Burger, who was not as interested in maintaining the rancho. After Mary's death in 1968, Burger closed the ranch entirely. Rübel's heirs regained control of the property after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which had damaged a number of buildings on the rancho.

The Rübel family restored commercial citrus production and set about repairing the earthquake damage. Although the main house was restored in 1996, funding was not available to restore the smaller buildings until 2006. As a result, restoration efforts are currently taking place with construction expected to finish in spring 2007. The rancho is on State Route 126, but little is visible from the highway. After the restoration, one of the buildings will be converted to a rest area.

[edit] Ramona

Ramona, published in 1884, was based in part of some of the experiences that Helen Hunt Jackson had had during her visit to Rancho Camulos in 1882. The book was extremely popular and inspired a great deal of tourism, which happened to coincide with the opening of Southern Pacific railroad lines in Southern California.

With all of the interest generated by the book, a number of communities declared that they were the setting for the novel in order to cash in on the boom. However, the location of the fictional Moreno Ranch, "midway in the valley [between lands] to the east and west, which had once belonged to the Missions of San Fernando and San Bonaventura [sic]" corresponds to the location of Rancho Camulos, and the physical description of some of the buildings on the fictional ranch accurately describe actual buildings on the real rancho. Unfortunately, Jackson died in 1885, never having publicly disclosed what locations the book was based on.

Writers such as George Wharton James researched the various claims, and in 1909 wrote that Camulos was the "avowed and accepted home of the heroine."^[3]

Given the general acceptance that Camulos was indeed the original setting, D.W. Griffith shot portions of his 1910 silent film at the rancho, using the chapel, the adobe and patio, and the nearby mountains as backdrops. Paintings and photographs by noted artists such as Adam Clark Vroman, Henry Chapman Ford, and Alexander Harmer of the rancho also illustrated later versions of the novel.

Naturally, Rancho Camulos was a prime destination for Ramona aficionados. Southern Pacific's main Ventura County line ran right past the property and the rancho hosted a large number of tourists. At first, the del Valles were not keen on having people run rampant through the buildings and orchards, but eventually capitalized on their newfound fame by branding their oranges "The Home of Ramona Brand".

Tourists continued to arrive even after SP relocated their main line through the Santa Susanna Pass in 1903. Two daily trains made stops at Camulos until the service was discontinued in the 1940s.

[edit] Footnotes

^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2006-03-15).
^ Los Angeles Times, August 11, 1924
^ James, George Wharton (1909). Through Ramona's Country. Little, Brown and Company.