Field of Dreams at Heritage Park

The sound of water splashing into a pond, the soft cooing of ring-necked doves and the cheerful chattering of finches float on the wind.

A cool morning breeze rustles the sheltering branches of an old California pepper tree and whirls a windmill atop a turn-of-the-century-style white and green tank house. Suddenly the air seems somehow fresher, more restful.

Ah. How nice to be in the country, away from the bustle of the city.

Well, not quite.

This particular Elysian field is Heritage Park, and it is tucked into a Santa Fe Springs industrial park east of Interstate 605.

Heritage Park is a green oasis of Victorian Gothic ambience smack in the midst of a highly industrialized city with a resident population of 15,000 and a work-force population of 80,000.

The six-acre park, which opened in 1987, is a re-creation of a thriving citrus ranch/estate that horticulturist Harvay Hawkins began there in the 1880s.

Attention to Detail

The careful attention to historic detail makes Heritage much more than a peaceful, beautiful park. It also is a historical site, a hands-on educational tool, a much-sought-after meeting place for local groups and even a setting for romantic weddings.

The most ambitious undertaking at the park was totally rebuilding structures that were destroyed as the once-grand ranch fell into ruins after oil was discovered there in the 1920s.

The elaborate carriage barn, which cost $5,000 to build in the 1880s, burned in 1969. In its place sits an elegant replica that is a history center full of artifacts and exhibits on turn-of-the-century life in Southern California.

The centerpiece of the barn is an Emerson surrey, carefully restored after it was “found in 100 pieces in a yard in Norwalk,” says Margaret Hammon, historian at the park.

The carriage is part of a display on transportation. Other displays include an area where children can dress up in 1900s clothes or look through a stereoscope.

Visitors also can imagine what it was like to be one of the barefoot children in overalls in the near-life-size circa-1919 photo from Santa Fe Springs’ one-room schoolhouse or learn about early citrus farming--”When Air Was Pure and When Money Grew on Trees.”

A conservatory also has been re-created. “One of the important things about having wealth a hundred years ago was to have a beautiful garden,” Hammon says, “and this building is called a conservatory, a fancy name for a greenhouse. It’s based on English design. . . . We rebuilt it the way it looked a hundred years ago.”

While Hawkins probably used the building to nurture seedlings or exotic botanical specimens, the conservatory now is stocked with greenery and flowering plants of the season. This summer, spider plants and asparagus ferns hang from the roof, while pots of colorful begonias and other flowers crowd the shelves and floor.

It’s cool in the conservatory even on a warm day. Water spills from a three-tiered fountain, and a cool breeze circulates as air is drawn through the windows and out vents in the roof.

Nearby stands a new windmill/tank house. This building serves as a lesson on how fields were irrigated at the turn of the century and what life was like before modern plumbing.

Visitors can try their hands at a working pump that draws water from an artesian well into a concrete reservoir. In the old days, the windmill ran the pump and water would go from the reservoir into a “standpipe” that released it into ditches for irrigation.

And visitors can climb steel steps to the top of the tank house to see the whole park and marvel at its surroundings.

Added attractions are: basement and fireplace ruins of the ranch house; English-style gardens with planters and fountains; beautiful trees old enough to have been planted by Hawkins himself; an aviary with doves, finches, button quail, cockatiels, pheasants and other types of birds; The Kitchen, serving sandwiches and salads from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday, and two archeological sites: the foundation of an 1818 adobe and its family’s trash pit, now playfully dubbed “Rancho Rubbish.”

The land originally was zoned for industrial development when the city purchased it in 1984. However, as the property’s history became known, the idea of a park took shape, Hammon says.

First, the archeologists found the long-rumored Patricio Ontiveros adobe site and other artifacts. Then photos taken of the estate in the 1890s surfaced.

“Over a period of time, the idea blossomed,” Hammon says. “Originally they were just going to build the carriage barn, and then they decided to do the conservatory and the tank house; eventually the whole site was developed.”

She says the old photos were used as blueprints to take “a field of weeds” and turn it into Heritage Park.

City officials quickly realized the educational potential of the park and placed it under the supervision of the Santa Fe Springs City Library staff, assisted by park rangers who provide round-the-clock security and a dedicated core group of docents who help conduct tours and answer park visitors’ questions.

“History is my favorite subject and I love this,” says Anita Kiesel, a 67-year-old docent and Santa Fe Springs resident. Conducting tours for children is her favorite docent activity. “It’s a real joy,” she says. She especially recalls one child who told her recently, “I didn’t think this would be fun and I enjoyed it.”

Docent Larry Oblea, 37, has lived in Santa Fe Springs most of his life. He likes conducting tours of the tank house and the adobe foundation and says “old Spanish-Era history” is his specialty.

Oblea enjoys telling visitors about when Patricio Ontiveros lived on the site as overseer of a cattle herd belonging to Mission San Juan Capistrano. He explains how the land belonged to the Nieto family and that the quarreling and intrigue over cattle at that time “could make a good soap opera.”

Armida Boales, 42, says it was love at first sight when she saw the park. She lives in Los Angeles, but works in Santa Fe Springs and enjoys being a docent. “I love museums, and to me Heritage Park is a museum, even though most of it is outdoors.”

Boales says most visitors to the park are “really so proud of Santa Fe Springs for doing this, so it makes me feel good that I’m part of it.”

Upcoming special activities at the park include Children’s Day and Friday afternoon concerts in the park.

Children’s Day, Aug. 13 from noon to 4 p.m., will feature a pie-eating contest, scavenger hunt, a chance to wash clothes on an old-fashioned scrub board, storytelling, turn-of-the-century games and a puppet show.

The concerts are each Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and feature a variety of music, including Smokewood (bluegrass) on Aug. 4 and Nova String Quartet Aug. 11.

Heritage Park, 12100 Mora Drive, Santa Fe Springs; open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. The carriage barn is open Wednesdays and Thursdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays noon-4 p.m.; the tank house is open most Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Ranger may be available for tours at other times. There is no admission charge. Group tours available by appointment: call (213) 946-6476.