With Historic Buildings And Costumed Guides, This Museum In Southern California Is A True Hidden Gem
By Natasha Kayes|Published June 28, 2023
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Natasha Kayes
Author
I was born and raised in sunny Southern California and will never tire of the West Coast, although I spent several years living in Southeast Asia, about as far from California as you can get. Wherever I am in the world, I love straying from the beaten path, experiencing local life, and discovering hidden gems - camera in hand. The beach is my happy place and when I am not there (or writing), you will usually find me baking, watching movies, and cuddling my pugs. I have traveled around the country and around the world, and it never, ever gets old. Being able to combine my passion for travel and my love of writing is nothing short of a dream.
Every city and town has its own unique history and local museums are a great way to peer back in time and learn about the people, events, and stories that shaped a place. Museums may be as simple as a gallery of photos or as elaborate as a furnished palace. There is one unique history museum in Newbury Park, CA, that truly brings the area’s history to life so you can almost go back and experience it for yourself.
The Stagecoach Inn Museum, was saved from certain demolition in 1964 by the forming of the Conejo Valley Historical Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing local history and educating people about the area’s cultural heritage.
The museum was declared a California Landmark in 1965.
The original Stagecoach Inn, a beautiful Monterey-style main building, was originally built in 1876 and opened as The Grand Union Hotel. Over the decades, the inn changed hands and was passed down to generations, and it served several purposes, including a base for the Red Cross and a filming location.
In 1970, the original building, which was now a museum, burned down and the structure that is now in its place was built to look exactly as the one that was destroyed. Many donations from the community have contributed to it being restored and refurnished.
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When you enter the parlor of the Stagecoach Inn, you are immediately swept back in time to the 1800s, not only by the rooms that appear as they would have at that time, but by fully costumed docents who lead the guided tours and entertain visitors with stories and legends of the past.
The Stagecoach Inn Museum highlights some fascinating, and little-known, American history. During the 1950s, a popular activity was to work hair into various pieces of jewelry. I never knew that, did you? One of the best collections of these hair-workpieces is on display here.
Stagecoaches once went straight through what is now Newbury Park and hotel guests often used this kind of transportation. Get a close-up look at some old stagecoaches in the carriage house and learn all about “One-eyed Charley,” known for being California’s best stagecoach driver.
There is a real working forge in the Blacksmith Shop and you may even get to see the blacksmith pounding away at some hot metal tools. Newly-forged items can be seen and purchased in the museum’s Emporium.
A one-room schoolhouse served the community for many years starting in 1888. Visitors of all ages can step inside for some old-fashioned “book larnin’” while using a slate at an antique desk.
The Tri-Village exhibit gives you the opportunity to peek inside three very different dwellings that reflect the lifestyle of three important eras in the history of Conejo Valley - the Chumash, Spanish, and Pioneer settlements.
The Chumash Village features a tribal house, or ‘ap, as it was called, is a large dome-shaped shelter made of branches and reinforced with whalebone.
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An adobe home, built in 1976, represents the type of dwellings built and used by the Spanish vaquero families that came and tended cattle in the early 1800s. The wooden cabin, named the Newbury Pioneer House, is a close replica of the home belonging to Egbert Newbury, the area’s first postmaster and the town’s namesake, in the late 1800s.
The main house has a basement where Anderson Exhibit Hall contains some of the oldest, and perhaps some of the most intriguing, historical items at the museum.
The Chumash Exhibit is an extensive collection of authentic and replicated artifacts - including tools, children’s games, clothing, photos, intricate basket-work, and more - that provide a real glimpse into the culture of the Conejo Valley’s earliest inhabitants. There are even fossils that have been unearthed in the area.
This hidden gem of a museum is open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and is well worth an afternoon spent exploring history. Have you ever been to this museum in Newbury Park? What part of this place interests you most? You can find out more about the museum and its history on the Stagecoach Inn website. If you are visiting the Conejo Valley, you should also consider checking out this dreamy botanical garden in Thousand Oaks and this awesome little rental home if you decide to make a weekend of it.
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