Heritage Hill Historical Park

 

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jf c.

Long Beach, CA

6/7/2008

Before Lake Forest turned into a typical suburb, it was a proto OC cow town. No bull! Ranchers used to raise cattle here and drive it toward the ocean to sell hides. Four historic buildings in this park give a glimpse of this old world: Jose Serrano's original adobe house; the one-room El Toro Grammar School; St. George's Episcopal Church; and the Bennett Ranch House, all built between 1863 and 1908. It even smells kinda farmy here, thanks to the horse boarding facilities downhill.

You won't go wow just looking at the small and humble buildings, but you can learn a lot if you take one of the free docent-led tours offered on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 2 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The tour I was on lasted about 1 hr 40 min.

Heritage Hill's entrance is not easy to find from the main street. From Lake Forest Drive, turn into the shopping center with Bagels & Brew near Trabuco Road. The park entrance is at one corner of the shopping center's parking lot.

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