About a dozen people on Saturday walked the same dirt path and up the same steps American author Helen Hunt Jackson used on Jan. 23, 1882, when she came to Rancho Camulos in the Santa Clara River Valley.   The ranch and stagecoach stop near Piru, between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, is said to be the inspiration for one of the settings in Jackson’s popular 1884 novel “Ramona.”  Rancho Camulos Museum offered an immersive experience of the 1882 Jackson visit on Saturday at the property, 10 miles west of Interstate 5 along State Route 126. As guests arrived, they freely toured the grounds and interacted with members of the del Valle family and others, portrayed by Rancho Camulos Museum docents in period attire. Then everyone was directed to the arriving stagecoach.  Docent and performer Hillary Weireter, right, speaks to guests about the 1867 chapel at the Rancho Camulos Museum near Piru during a reenactment event Saturday afternoon on the property. Michael Picarella/The Signal “A carriage is coming,” said Maria Christopher, a docent in character as the lady of the house, Susanna Avila del Valle. “A carriage is coming.”  Docent and former College of the Canyons California history professor Connie Tripp, who portrayed Jackson, stepped out of a horseless carriage on the property. Jackson’s hosts then led her and museum guests into what Christopher called the main living area of the ranch, where they sat for glasses of brandy and conversation.  Connie Tripp, center, plays American author Helen Hunt Jackson, exiting her carriage during a reenactment event Saturday afternoon at the Rancho Camulos Museum near Piru. Michael Picarella/The Signal According to Christopher, in her comments after the reenactment, the details of Jackson’s visit were not documented. The non-scripted conversation in the Rancho Camulos production covered what might’ve been discussed.   Jackson shared who she was, having just finished “Century of Dishonor,” an 1881 piece of non-fiction she’d written about the treaties that the United States government made and eventually broke with Native American people. On that January day back in 1882, Jackson had come from Colorado to Southern California as an agent of the Department of the Interior to assess the living conditions of Native Americans there.   The lady of the house and others shared details about their ranch, how they attained the property and other details like how they began growing grapes there after they’d arrived in 1867 and later made wine.   Maria Christopher, center, greets Connie Tripp, left, as Lynn Adams takes a seat during a reenactment event Saturday afternoon at the Rancho Camulos Museum near Piru. Michael Picarella/The Signal Following the conversation, museum visitors were given an opportunity to ask questions. One person from the public asked about Jackson’s book “Ramona.”   “Helen Hunt Jackson went to New York and spent four months writing the book,” said Tripp. “It came out in 1884 in April or May in a magazine — it was serialized — and then eventually they put it into the novel. She died the very next year.”  Tripp added that Jackson would’ve been very disappointed with the novel’s reception. As an admirer of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who’d written the 1852 antislavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Jackson had hoped “Ramona” would do for the Native Americans what “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” did for African Americans.  Unfortunately, according to Tripp, “Ramona” did not have that effect.   “It became a great romance novel,” Tripp said. “People honestly wrapped themselves up in this book and talked about going to all the places that Ramona had actually been — like she was a real person.”  Connie Tripp plays American author Helen Hunt Jackson during a reenactment event Saturday afternoon at the Rancho Camulos Museum near Piru. Michael Picarella/The Signal “Ramona” tells the story of the forbidden love affair between a mixed-race orphan girl and a Native American man, exploring themes of racism, imperialism and the oppression of Indigenous people. Critics and fans over the years have called the novel a stirring love story.  As a result of its popularity, many people of the time, Christopher said, began coming to California, particularly Rancho Camulos, to see where Ramona, the titular character of the book, had stayed, even though Ramona was a fictional character and Rancho Camulos was never actually named in the novel.   Christopher added that the timing of the book coincided closely with the expansion of the railroad across the country.   “The entrepreneurs had come to Los Angeles,” she said, “and it was like, ‘How do we get people to come to California? Well, we make it attractive. And here’s a beautiful story (“Ramona”) about a beautiful señorita who marries and falls in love with a handsome Native American, who live in the golden hills of California.’ People come. They take the trains. They come to see Ramona, where Ramona lives. And it became a phenomenon.”  Following the discussion at the museum, docents were available to lead guests on a tour of the property, a 40-acre national historic landmark that includes the 1853 main adobe home, a schoolhouse, a chapel, a brick winery, gardens and more.   Due to the Southern California fires over the weekend, the museum plans to host another reenactment presentation on Saturday, February 22. For more information about that and the Rancho Camulos Museum in general, go to RanchoCamulos.org or call 805-521-1501.  Guests get up close to the 1867 chapel at the Rancho Camulos Museum near Piru during a reenactment event Saturday afternoon on the property. Michael Picarella/The Signal The 1850 Del Valle buggy rests at the Rancho Camulos Museum near Piru. It serves as American author Helen Hunt Jackson’s ride to the property on Saturday afternoon during a reenactment or her visit there in 1882. Michael Picarella/The Signal Ken Asarch, who plays Helen Hunt Jackson’s carriage driver, in black, sits during a stopover on January 23, 1882, when Jackson came to Rancho Camulos. The Rancho Camulos Museum offered a reenactment of the stay Saturday on the property near Piru. Michael Picarella/The Signal The post Rancho Camulos Museum offers trip back to 1882 appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.