Elfin
Forest-Harmony Grove ... Our History
Dedicated to Preserving
our Rural Environment
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Elfin Forest – an unusual name for a remarkable place. Do elves actually live here? How did it get its name? How did this community manage to preserve a rural atmosphere?
The history of Elfin Forest is an interesting mix of spiritual effort, love of nature, and strong dedication to values. Some people may interpret our lack of a local school, gas station, strip mall, video store, and clusters of homes surrounding a park as a lack of community identity. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Elfin Forest is a unique community comprised of people who want to preserve its rural environment. This group of dedicated citizens is proud of their community and its history.
Newcomers want to know what the name Elfin Forest means. Who gave it that unique name? Who founded the first homestead? What was the woman like who used the metate (Indian grinding rock) found in a yard? Who owned the cow that left its handmade bell in another yard? Who owned the horses that left hand-forged horseshoes?
Elfin Forest is one of the terms used by naturalists to describe the vegetation which formerly covered much of Southern California. It is variously known as coastal scrub, bush-forest, elfin-wood, heath-scrub, and chaparral. It was designed by nature as the best possible means for conservation of the land and supports many endangered plants and animals, including the gnatcatcher. This coastal scrub is now endangered and the state government is studying ways to protect it. The Elfin Forest valley contains one of the largest areas of virgin coastal scrub in Southern California.
In the 1940’s a fire burned a portion of Questhaven Retreat. The retreat's founders, Flower and Lawrence Newhouse, invited the director of the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens to visit Questhaven to help plan for its replanting. He described the characteristic growth of the area as "elfin forest", a name describing a number of dwarf trees and shrubs mingled together to form a particular variety of chaparral: toyon berry, white and blue wild lilac, manzanita, sumac, lemonade berry, elderberry, mountain mahogany, scrub oak and many more. This combination was found in only three locations in southern California, he said, and the specimens at Questhaven were among the finest he'd ever seen.
The name delighted Flower. On the spot, she and Lawrence decided the hills and valley nestling Questhaven would be called Elfin Forest Canyon and they posted signs along the road using that name.
The naming of the area has also been attributed to the children of Dr. Harvey Urban, a prominent San Diego dentist who, along with Jack Donnelley and George Dew, purchased 20 acres for a vacation spot for their families and friends. While Dr. Urban's friends called the place "Tooth Acres", his five children named the spot Elfin Forest from the book Elfin Forest they had just finished reading.
There is evidence that possible ancestors of the Northern Diegueno Indians lived in the Harmony Grove area. An archeological bonanza, many artifacts have been found and efforts to preserve others are underway. Mortars, metates, pictographs, and petroglyphs discovered there help shed light on the Uyman language they were known to have spoken and contribute to a clearer understanding of their primitive way of life more than 9,000 years ago. There are ancient petroglyphs in rocks at the extreme western end of Ninth Avenue. These are Indian symbols and have a connection with others found in Escondido, Hemet, Borrego, and Rancho Bernardo. They seem to be direction finders similar to the magnificent rocks at Stonehenge in England.
The environs of Harmony Grove area were used for meetings of many different Indian tribes. It was considered their Peace Grounds. The Indians believed that the entire area of Harmony Grove and Elfin Forest gave off beneficial vibrations.
Two tribes of Indians who inhabited our area were San Dieguenos and Luisenos. Indians ate edible grasses, wild garlic, mustard, dandelions, berries and other goodies that the unenlightened don't know about. The indigenous oak trees provided acorns that were an important source of nourishment. At least one person in the area has found metates on his property. Surely Indians and early settlers ate deer whose decedents are to be seen in the Questhaven area.
The old Spanish and Mexican land grants of the mid-1800's never included any of the chaparral that could possibly be avoided since it was considered undesirable and made poor pasture land. Squatter Pierre Renand claimed 160 acres in the Harmony Grove area, which was adjacent to the Ranch Rincon del Diablo granted to Juan Bautista Alvardo in 1843. In 1868, the rancho was sold to Ed McGeary and three members of the Wolfskill family. John Wolfskill acquired Renand's portion in 1876 for "one dollar's gold coin." A huge sheep ranch prospered on the Wolfskill ranch for fifteen years.
Spook's Canyon
In the 1880's, a Welshman named Spook homesteaded in the Elfin Forest valley. As recently as 1971, remains of his orchard could be seen. It is probably because of this man that we hear the term "Spooks Canyon," which has been a nickname our valley has had for years. The meetings of spiritualist groups in Harmony Grove provide another version of the origin of that nickname. The name also fits in well with the ghosts and legends that are also part of our area.
Before the turn of the century, the Butterfield Stage Coach Company used Harmony Grove Road as part of its route from Escondido to San Diego. The route went from Ramona to Escondido, followed the Escondido Creek, turned west to Encinitas and then south to San Diego. A man name Parkrider had a store near the junction of Harmony Grove and Elfin Forest Roads. The road was paved in the late 1950's and after the vacation ranch closed down in the1990s, even the few remaining bricks from the store disappeared.
The area's beauty - year round stream and shade trees, as mentioned earlier, led Dr. Harvey Urban, Jack Donnelley, and George Dew to buy twenty acres at the junction of what is now Harmony Grave and Elfin Forest Roads in 1959. They built a house and a dam to create a lake and began adding spaces for trailers, campers, and mobile homes. Additional land (for a total of 97 acres) was purchased and a grocery store was opened. It was referred to as the Elfin Forest Vacation Ranch. They provided boating, fishing, movies, and square dancing. When Dr. Urban opened those acres up to public camping, the campground and the valley around it became popularly known as Elfin Forest. The campground no longer exists. The property is scheduled for development soon.
Until 1977, our community was sparsely developed. In addition to Questhaven Retreat, Harmony Grove Spiritualist Association, and the Elfin Forest Vacation Ranch, there were a few older homes in the surrounding hills. Many new homes were built between 1977 to 1980. Inflation caused interest rates to rise and home building slowed until late 1984. From 1985 to 1992 there was a boom in building in the area. It is estimated that the population of the area grew to 450 homes, with 15 to 20 homes being added each year. From 1992 to 1995 the economic slowdown in San Diego caused building to almost cease. 1996 saw a pickup in the economy with some new building. The population according to the last census stands at 1,000 in 1996 with a projected population of 2,156 in the year 2015. (Ref: SANDAG)
In 1978, there were heavy rains in San Diego County. The Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove areas were severely impacted as torrents of water rushed down Escondido Creek causing a "40 year flood." The beautiful lake in the Vacation Ranch was swept away, the basin around it was severely flooded and the Ranch was devastated. Dr. Urban, who had plans to develop it into exclusive mobile home estates passed away shortly afterwards, and his family was forced to sell the acreage. There were plans are to develop the Ranch into a "Lawrence Welk" type of mobile home park called Lake Elfin Forest, but the plans were not approved by the County.
As the area has developed, so has its community spirit. A volunteer fire department was formed in 1972, and became a fully funded volunteer department in 1982 (voter approval of 89 percent). The department has been held in high regard by other fire departments and fire districts in the County of San Diego. We now have a highly visible station on Elfin Forest Road , a dedicated staff of fire fighters and medics, trucks and gear which not only serve our area, but assist on fires as far north as Yosemite.
In 1975, before Elfin Forest was large enough to be heard, the County approved placing a landfill on Questhaven Road. In 1983, the County proposed placing a trash-to-energy plant on that landfill. The residents of Elfin Forest waged a very long battle to stop construction of that plant. After years of hearings, litigation and many setbacks both politically and financially, the project was stopped. The front end of the plant, however was built in 1993 as a recycling plant, but it was closed down in less than 18 months as being financially unworkable. The landfill was permanently closed in the spring of 1997. The County ended up selling the entire solid waste system to the private sector and the recycling plant is for sale – any takers?
As San Diego County continues to develop, the remaining "open space" in Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove is increasingly threatened and scarce.
History
of Harmony Grove / Eden Valley
Petroglyphs in Harmony Grove
(These are on private property and not accessible to the public)
There is evidence that ancestors of the Northern Diegueno Indians lived in the Harmony Grove area more than 9,000 years ago. Many artifacts, such as mortars, metates, arrowheads, pictographs, and petroglyphs that have been discovered here have helped to shed light on how these ancient native Americans lived and the Uyman language that they spoke. Harmony Grove was considered to be their Peace Grounds by tribes of San Diegueno and Luiseno Indians, who believed the entire area gave off beneficial vibrations. The many native oak trees provided acorns that were an important source of nourishment for these early inhabitants. Decendants of the once plentiful wild deer still roam the low lying hills and drink from Escondido Creek and its tributaries.
In 1843 a squatter named Pierre Renand claimed 160 acres in the Harmony Grove area which was adjacent to the Ranch Rincon del Diablo granted to Juan Bautisa Alvardo. In 1868, the rancho was sold to Ed McGreary and members of the Wolfskill family. Sheep were grazed on the Wolfskill ranch for many years.
In the late 1800s, the Butterfield Stage Coach Company used Harmony Grove Road as a stage route from Ramona to San Diego. A man named Parkrider had a store near the junction of Harmony Grove Road and Elfin Forest Road that served as a stage stop. A few adobe bricks still remain as the last remnants of the old store. The road was paved in the early 1950s.
The area was named for its peaceful nature by the early settlers, Foster, Harding, and Molette, who established a spiritualist camp here in 1896. Many area streets bear the names of decendants of early settlers, such as Cordrey Road. What is now Questhaven Road in Elfin Forest was once called Spooks Canyon Road in honor of an early rancher named Spooks who lived near the road. The name was later changed by Flower Newhouse who founded the Questhaven Retreat in 1940.
There are many historic buildings and archeological sites remaining in the Harmony Grove area. An old stone mill still stands near Escondido Creek, and the ruins of an old adobe house can be seen near Country Club Road. Many old barns and farmhouses can be seen along the scenic country roads in the area. These priceless relics provide a link to our heritage, and are a constant reminder of the pioneers who founded the strong community that now flourishes here.
It is up to us who live here to protect it for the future.
Want to know more? There's lots of information in the Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove Community Guide. Just $25. Contact any town council member.
08/27/2008 Copyright Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove Town Council. All rights reserved. Web design by Evelyn Alemanni (www.allea.com)