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11 Most Endangered
Ridgewood Ranch, Home of Seabiscuit
Year Listed: 2004
Location: Willits , California
Current Status: Favorable
Threat: Deterioration, Development
Latest News
On May 11, 2009, a commemorative Seabiscuit US Postal Service Stamp Envelope will be released. In cooperation with the US Postal Service, Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation is planning a special event at Ridgewood Ranch to celebrate the first day of sale.
Ridgewood Ranch Mare Barn Complex in 2003. Ridgewood Ranch is the Home of Seabiscuit, in Willits, California, It was listed in 2004 as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
Credit: Tom Linden
Significance
Nestled among oak and redwood-studded hillsides, Northern California's Ridgewood Ranch was the home –- and is the final resting place -- of a great American horseracing legend, Seabiscuit. . Located in rural Mendocino County, between the towns of Ukiah and Willits, Ridgewood Ranch comprises 4,600 acres of working farmland, forests, streams, and redwoods and a 90-acre central area featuring more than 25 historic structures associated with owners William Van Arsdale (1903-1909) and Charles S. Howard (1921-1951), Seabiscuit's owner. The diverse cultural resources at Ridgewood Ranch include over two-dozen buildings and man-made features such as trails, bridges, a gravity-fed Pelton water wheel and reservoir, a 19th Century stagecoach road and cemetery, and a railway station, as well as vestiges of Native American habitation. These elements all exist in the context of the overarching 5,000-acre ranch and woodland property.
Over time, Howard transformed the one-time cattle ranch into a thoroughbred horse facility unparalleled in California. It was here in the Walker Valley that an improbable winning trio - owner Howard, jockey Red Pollard and trainer Tom Smith - nursed an ailing racehorse back to health in 1939 after a serious injury. Seabiscuit's recuperation at the ranch set into motion events that culminated in his electrifying, third-try, blaze-of-glory finish at Santa Anita Racetrack in 1940. Depression-era America was enthralled; the unassuming brown horse's unexpected winning streak seemed to reflect the fragile hopes and indomitability of a nation subdued by adversity. Laura Hilllenbrand's book Seabiscuit: An American Legend (2001), and the later Academy Award-nominated movie based upon it, have introduced new generations to the inspirational tale.
Updates
Over the years the National Trust awarded more than $9,000 in grants to Ridgewood to conduct condition assessments and cost estimates for the rehabilitation of historic resources on the Ranch, including the Mare Barn Complex. In 2007 the National Trust Western Office contributed to preservation of Ridgewood Ranch's buildings and landscapes when it funded a long-term preservation and management plan for the ranch. The resulting Historic Structures Report, completed in 2008 by Garavaglia Architecture, Inc., prioritizes a set of goals for future planning and capital improvements at Seabiscuit's home and will serve as the starting point for a future National Register Historic Cultural Landmark nomination. The HSR's recommendations focus on stabilization tasks for individual buildings and on long-range planning strategies to support the economic and cultural demands of the ranch.
The Golden Rule Church Association and the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation head up a diverse coalition that is contributing to stewardship efforts at Ridgewood, including the Mendocino Land Trust, California's State Office of Historic Preservation, the Save the Redwoods League, the California Wildlife Conservation Board, the Willits Chamber of Commerce, the Willits Rotary Club, and the National Trust. Recognizing increasing development pressures in the area, Golden Rule began working with the Mendocino Land Trust several years ago to develop a conservation easement that would protect Ridgewood's open space and natural habitats in perpetuity. Two easements, covering just over 1,700 acres, are already in place and a third --"scenic corridor"-- conservation easement is currently under consideration. Plans for the remaining acreage are being considered in conjunction with the Wild Life Conservation Board. The ultimate goal is to place approximately 4,600 of Ridgewood's 5,000 acres under the protection of easements.
In 2007, a new casting of a statue of Seabiscuit was dedicated at the ranch, replacing the original which had been removed during the 1950s to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, NY.
By 2004, Seabiscuit's home and final resting place was in jeopardy, its former thoroughbred glory dulled by deterioration due to inadequate funding for maintenance. Preserving Ridgewood's -- and Seabiscuit's -- story, therefore, entails stewardship of open space, ranching and horseracing history, the natural environment, archaeology, and reminders of settlement and expansion in California.
Still a working ranch, the property is owned by the Golden Rule Church Association, which has endeavored to be a model steward of the ranch. Golden Rule and the Mendocino Land Trust engaged the National Trust to help engineer preservation of Ridgewood's historic and cultural resources concurrent with protection of its landscapes and open space. One of the initial results was the creation, in 2004, of a public benefit non-profit California corporation, the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation, "dedicated to telling the story of Seabiscuit and his era through preserving the Northern California ranch where the champion racehorse lived out his life."
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