Museum to Get Bell Designating Trail

The Stagecoach Inn Museum will get a ringing endorsement in March.

Fourth-graders at Ladera Elementary School in Thousand Oaks and the Conejo Women’s Club helped raise money to buy a replica of a historic bell for the museum, designating it as one of the stops along the original El Camino Real trail.

Sandy Hildebrandt, director of the museum, said the $1,000 replica will put the facility back on the map. The Stagecoach Inn wasn’t a mission, but it was one of the stops along the way for weary travelers, she said.

Travelers in the 1700s and 1800s followed El Camino Real trail from Mexico up the California coast, guiding them to Spanish missions along the way. In 1906, hundreds of bells were set up along the trail, which is long gone but roughly follows Pacific Coast Highway.

“Caltrans will use the bells to mark the original highway,” Hildebrandt said. “That’s important to us because it will guide people down to the museum.”

Dick Martin, who teaches fourth grade at Ladera Elementary, said it was important for the children to get into the act. The state requires fourth-graders to learn about California history, from the Gold Rush to the Spanish missions dotting the coast.

“It provides the kids with a handle on history and a direct contact with history,” Martin said.

The children began raising the money in September and didn’t have it all until December. It was a slow process, Martin said.

“The kids brought dimes and quarters until we had the full $500,” he said. “I had kids standing at the door of the cafeteria asking other kids if they had any extra change.”

The dedication ceremony for the bell is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. March 27 at the museum, 51 S. Ventu Park Road.