Seniors Visit The Old Community of Newhall

Senior travelers will find Newhall, California, the southernmost and oldest community of Santa Clarita, just outside of Los Angeles. Established in the 1850′s as a stagecoach stop, today, it is notable for its antique car shows, mountain surroundings, and ranch houses.

Named after businessman Henry Newhall, Newhall is home to the William S. Hart County Park, featuring tours of the famous silent movie maker’s mansion.

The Old West still lives in Newhall’s Western Walk of Fame and the William S. Hart Regional Park with its exhibition of Western life and an example of an old-time ranch house and the original Saugus train station.

Seniors Find Interesting History

Newhall is also home to the Pioneer Oil Refinery, the oldest surviving oil refinery in the world and the first commercially successful refinery in California. Senior visitors can enjoy the William S. Hart Museum and Ranch along with the Placerita Canyon Nature Center and Old-Town main street shops. Then there are car shows and a meal at the legendary Way Station.

Decades before the city of Santa Clarita, there were two small towns in the Valley: Newhall and Saugus. The Santa Clarita Valley was simply an area of ranches and farms in northern Los Angeles County.

Newhall was the place where ranchers bought groceries and other needs — and, at Saugus, shipped out what they produced via the railroad.  Eventually, Newhall and Saugus were absorbed into what is now Santa Clarita.

Beale’s Cut was the first man made passage from the San Fernando Valley to Santa Clarita and Northern California. Beale’s Cut was completed in 1864 by a crew headed by General Edward F. Beale and was 90 feet deep.

 Seniors Have Fun At the Cowboy Festival

Santa Clarita has hosted countless location shoots in its scrubby hills for Hollywood’s cowboy pictures. The Walk of Western Stars is an extensive sidewalk tribute to the movie, TV and radio legends.

The small shops in downtown Newhall mostly close by dinner time. Not a bad time for a stroll —  It’s just you and the memories of Clayton Moore, the original Lone Ranger; Tex Ritter the singing cowboy; Hoot Gibson, rodeo champ actor and director. Remember all those folks? Maybe not if you are not as old as this senior, but I loved them all and watched many black and white TV shows featuring those cowboys.

You don’t have to be a cowboy to enjoy the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival in Old Town Newhall. Suspending inside a larger than life horse shoe, festival goers will step back in time to the 1860’s.

This is Newhall, seniors. Set your GPS for this exciting old western setting and enjoy the flavor. -jeb