It's interesting to hear my father tell of the people who used to live in the area where I grew up. It was a whole different community, then. In the 30 short years between his childhood and mine, much of that community was gone. What was once the main county road had become a muddy trail through the woods and swamps. A slight depression in the ground marked where a schoolhouse had been. Rotting buildings with caved in roofs marked family homes, sheds, barns, and workshops long abandoned. Other trails marked where rail lines had been. A row of rotted pilings in a local lake, as well as the outline of a sunken rowboat and numerous sunken logs attested to a logging industry which had moved on to greener pastures. It's amazing how quickly some things change.
The same happened here. I will recount to you some of the little history notes I have learned from observation.
My grandparents own around five houses in Orange County, and the two that we are currently living in and/or working on are located in the same area(s) were the Spanish first entered California and built cattle ranches all around. Brea, CA is a testament to this. In the hills, there are these little old skeleton of stables and cow barns that you can only see from time to time because the government owns the land and you need a permit to enter it. But everyday at three o'clock, the children of those same cattle that were brought here with the Spaniards still roam wild in the hills. Many of the heifers have just had calves, and you can see the bulls with their large, long horns, gazing out at you resolutely. In Diamond Bar, there's a little valley road that passes by this absolutely beautiful farm with a pond, a mill, and a stone house. There are Black Angus cattle that graze in a basin that fills up in the rainy season, and dries out with grasses in the summertime and if there is a drought. I've even seen a couple of ranch horses grazing out near that farm. I don't believe anyone resides in the stone farmhouse, but just to see a piece of history like that - amazing. But the sad part is, things like that are always in danger of being destroyed. Southern California is notorious for sucking up every piece of available land that can be tamed and trained into a plot of land that can sell on the market. If the government hadn't owned those 10,000+ acres, I bet all those old weeping willows and cottonwoods would have been mown down like crab grass and set up with a hundred more banal looking, brown tudor-style 'luxury' homes. Bleh. It's just amazing how people seem to have no care in the world about the beauty of the past or the beauty of open land. Why can't we enjoy just looking at those golden hills, covered with emerald trees, and when the wind blows, those long strands of wild hay glisten in the sun like the ocean waters? And hawks roam those hills, including foxes, deer, and many other exquisite creatures.
My grandmother even once told me that when she first moved to the first house the bought in Brea, she saw a large buck with huge antlers grazing out near the parkview. She thought it was a statue, but when she approached him he raised his head and looked at her, then walked calmly away. She even saw a small burrowing owl out back. Amazing, huh? I miss those days.
I even remember when I used to ride horses through those hills on a little flea-bitten Arabian gelding and a large bay Quarter horse. That was the best. There's a mountain-fed stream that runs through a forest of bamboo and sugarcane, and there are these deadly little thorned plants that grow in groves and you can't pass through them. I believe they are moonflower buds (extremely poisonous), but it's been so long I can't remember.