A New Era for the ‘Ramona’ Rancho

It took only an afternoon at Rancho Camulos more than a century ago to inspire novelist Helen Hunt Jackson to make it the setting of her epic romance “Ramona.”

And the location’s allure was enough to spark the interest of historians and local politicians, who succeeded in having the aging ranch designated Ventura County’s first National Historic Landmark last year. Supporters have secured nearly $1 million in grants to begin preserving one of the county’s few remaining ranchos reminiscent of the early California lifestyle.

After a dedication today to recognize the landmark designation, which applies to fewer than 2,500 sites nationwide, the hacienda-style adobe and its 40 acres of rose gardens and orange groves will be open for public tours.

“With the national designation, we will have a clearer place on the map,” said Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long. “It will be in everyone’s history book as a place to go and visit the past.”

The site, named for the Spanish word for juniper tree, has long been a draw for out-of-towners because of Jackson’s novel, which was first published in 1884 and remains in print.

The tragic love story of a young Spanish girl and her Indian lover sparked a frenzy of tourism to Southern California. Southern Pacific Railroad brought thousands of people--”Ramona seekers,” as they were called--to the adobe and its orchards at the turn of the 20th century.

“Because ‘Ramona’ became such a phenomenon and was such a popular book in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the rancho is really considered the birth of California tourism in this area, as people came in search of the paradise described in the novel,” said Karen Roswell, executive director of the nonprofit museum, which was created by the owners after the 1994 Northridge earthquake made the rancho uninhabitable.

The rancho is in the middle of an 1,800-acre working citrus ranch in the Santa Clara Valley east of Piru, near the Ventura-Los Angeles county line. The museum includes the 11,000-square-foot adobe, a private family chapel, a circular brick fountain, a private schoolhouse, a winery and a second adobe that eventually will be converted into a visitor’s center.

“We carved out 40 acres so in the future at least we won’t have a strip mall across the street. It will always be rural,” said Shirley Lorenz, 74, whose family purchased the site in 1924 from the original owners and lived there until the quake severely damaged the property.

Ironically, it was that devastation that sparked community support and led to a six-year struggle by local politicians and preservationists to salvage the rancho as a symbol of old California.

“We have been appreciative of its history, but until the earthquake we weren’t able to identify funds to restore it,” Long said.

Private tours have been allowed on a limited basis since the quake, and the expanded museum is now open for public visits from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays. Group tours will continue to be booked by appointment. Admission is $5 per person.

The landmark designation makes the rancho more likely to receive the additional federal funding needed to complete the restoration, museum officials said.

The original owner, Antonio del Valle, received 48,000 acres in a land grant from Mexican Gov. Juan Alvarado in 1839. His son, Ygnacio, built the rancho in 1853.

“It’s taken all these years to get to this point,” Lorenz said. “But it’s well on the way to completing a promise to my father, who brought us up believing this was a special place.”