Brighter Future for Seabiscuit Ranch
By Tovah Pentelovitch | From Preservation | Feb. 5, 2007
A Seabiscuit monument, set for installation at California's Ridgewood Ranch this June, is bringing attention to the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation's preservation efforts.
Ridgewood Ranch, a 5,000-acre-property with more than 20 historic buildings and sites located just outside of Willits, Calif., was the home of Seabiscuit, the legendary racehorse. Because the ranch is vulnerable to developers, the National Trust For Historic Preservation named Ridgewood one of America's 11 Most Endangered Places in 2004.
When the current owners of the ranch, Christ's Church of the Golden Rule, purchased the land in 1962, it owned about 16,000 acres. Today only 5,000 acres remain in the hands of the church.
"This is really prime land to be developed," says Tracy Livingston, president of the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation. "But I don't see that happening now because there is so much going into the natural and historical conservation."
The foundation and the church began conservation efforts seven years ago. Livingston says his group's goal "is to save the entire ranch, whether it is by a conservation easement or a historic easement of some sort," with the hope of someday making it a historic district.
Livingston, who is also a member of the church, says that at this point the church is "just trying to do the right thing. We [the church] don't own the property; we are just passing through."
The Seabiscuit sculpture project, which was Livingston's idea, began developing in 2002. The sculpture, a life-size bronze monument weighing between 900 and 1,200 pounds, was cast from an original sculpture casting of the legendary Seabiscuit in 1941.
As part of fundraising efforts, the foundation offers both bus and walking tours of the ranch for $15 to $25. Last year, with 50 tours and merchandise sales, the heritage Foundation raised about $23,000, Livingston says.
The National Trust has become more involved in the foundation's preservation efforts after a donor bequeathed $25,000 to the Trust last year. The Trust is now developing a long-term preservation and management plan for the ranch, says Anthony Veerkamp, senior program officer at the Trust's Western Office.
"We see the ranch as a model case for the integration of natural and cultural resource protection," Veerkamp says.
The Trust has hired Garavaglia Architecture, a San Francisco-based firm, as consultants to help the foundation develop a plan for the church.
"It is going to be years and years down the line before we accomplish everything that we want," Livingston says.
The Seabiscuit sculpture unveiling is set for June 23.
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