Valley Weekend : OUTDOORS : Events at Hart Park Offer Step Back in Time : Late movie cowboy’s Newhall ranch is site of three-day festival that includes Civil War re-enactment, trail ride, tours and art show.

Newhall’s William S. Hart Park returns to the days of yesteryear this weekend with a three-day program of Western art, heritage and culture called Hart of the West.

There’s a trail ride Friday night under the full moon and an opening reception for the weekend-long art show and sale.

Did you always want to be a military impersonator? Civil War re-enactments will be held Saturday and Sunday as well as cavalry encampments. There’s a breakfast trail ride Saturday morning, and Cliffie Stone’s Western Jamboree will close the festivities Sunday afternoon with a rousing Heeee haa!

Hart, the legendary movie cowboy who died in 1946, used a chunk of the fortune he made from “Tumbleweeds” and other silent oaters to build his Newhall mansion. The house and the ranch are now a county museum and park (there will be twilight tours of the mansion Saturday night). “While I was making pictures,” Hart said, “the people gave me their nickels, dimes and quarters. When I am gone, I want them to have my house.”

Native American culture will be celebrated the following weekend at Hart Park’s Second Annual Powwow.

Hart, who spoke a little Sioux and knew Wyatt Earp, loved the West that disappeared under the pressure of the railroad and other new technologies. Wonder what he would make of Hart Park’s home page on the World Wide Web?

The park is at 24151 N. San Fernando Road. For more information, call (805) 259-0855.