On Jan. 23, 1882, author and activist Helen Hunt Jackson arrived at Rancho Camulos, making a brief yet historically significant stop during her journey from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara.
Though her visit lasted only a few hours, it would play a key role in shaping her most famous work, the 1884 novel Ramona.
At the time of Jackson’s visit, Rancho Camulos was a flourishing agricultural estate along the Santa Clara River. Its fields were planted with grapes, citrus and walnuts, wine was pressed on-site, and expanding herds of sheep and cattle roamed the property.
The rancho had long been the home of Don Ignacio del Valle and his second wife, Ysabel Varela del Valle, who together raised eleven children as well as numerous orphans whom Doña Ysabel welcomed into the household.
Among those living at the rancho was Blanca Yndart, an orphan whose life would later become entwined with the Camulos legacy. Blanca was the granddaughter of sea captain Domingo Yndart, who left her a chest of jewels to be opened on her 21st birthday — a story that would echo through later chapters of Rancho Camulos history.
Just two years earlier, on March 30, 1880, Don Ignacio del Valle had died and was laid to rest in the family crypt on a hill north of the main house, marked by a tall wooden cross.
Management of the estate passed to his eldest surviving son, Reginaldo del Valle, who was serving as a California state senator at the time of Jackson’s visit.
Jackson arrived at Rancho Camulos as part of her broader campaign to expose the injustices faced by Native Americans in the American West.
Her nonfiction work, “A Century of Dishonor,” had documented broken treaties and government failures, but Jackson believed that a novel — similar in impact to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” — was needed to reach a wider audience.
To that end, she traveled throughout Southern California, searching for authentic locations and personal stories to ground her narrative.
Postcards promulgated by the landowners in the 1910s and 1920s promoted Rancho Camulos as the “Home of Ramona.” (SCV History)
During her Jan. 23 visit, Jackson interviewed ranch workers and residents, including Blanca Yndart, and recorded detailed notes about daily life at Camulos. Although Doña Ysabel was away at the time, her presence and reputation strongly influenced Jackson’s portrayal of the dignified Señora Moreno in “Ramona.”
Canadian artist Henry Sandham later spent a week at Rancho Camulos, sketching scenes to accompany the romantic tale of star-crossed lovers.
Published in 1884, “Ramona” became a cultural phenomenon and helped cement Rancho Camulos’ identity as the novel’s primary setting.
The book later caught the attention of famed director D.W. Griffith, who considered it ideal source material during the early years of filmmaking in California, and multiple film adaptations followed.
(SCV History)
“Ramona” explores the life of the titular character, a mixed-race Scottish-Native American orphan girl in the wake of the Mexican-American War and the annexation of California into the United States.
Visitors can still experience the historic surroundings of Rancho Camulos today, now a 40-acre National Historic Landmark just 10 miles west of the City of Santa Clarita.
Each January, the Rancho Camulos Museum hosts the annual “return” of Helen Hunt Jackson, featuring reenactors portraying her visit alongside guided tours of the historic property.
Additionally, the white, Victorian-style Mountain View Inn in Piru still operates as a hotel and dining establishment, drawing visitors eager for a taste of California history.
To read yesterday’s today in history, click here.
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