As Interstate 5 ribbons out from the Los Angeles basin, the horizon grows wide as buildings and concrete give way to rolling hills and woodlands. Located approximately 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles, Heritage Valley is home to the cities of Santa Paula and Fillmore, and the community of Piru. Picturesque mountain views, sweeping valleys, vast citrus groves and avocado orchards, cities rich in charm and old town atmosphere, antique airplanes, and the valley's old time railroad all can be enjoyed by travelers of this corner of the California Countryside.

Located at the eastern end of Heritage Valley is the Rancho Camulos Museum, a wonderful example of an early California rancho in its original rural setting. Established by Ygnacio Del Valle in 1853, Camulos was once part of a 48,000 acre Mexican land grant and a bustling center for agriculture (many refer to Heritage Valley as the Citrus Capital of the World). Rancho Camulos stands as a vibrant reminder of the Spanish and Mexican ranchero life of Old California. The museum includes 15 structures within a 40 acre preserve listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Rancho Camulos is also part of literary folklore as the setting for Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona, first published in 1884 and still in print today. It is the romantic tale of a part-Indian girl raised by a Spanish Californio family. With its tragic love story and nostalgic view of history, the dramatic tale struck a chord in the imagination of the American public. The novel sparked tourism and migration to California from the late 1880s through the beginning of World War II. After the second printing of Jackson's novel, in which Camulos was cited as the home of Ramona, the area was inundated with tourists traveling on the region's new railroads, hoping to seek a glimpse of the romantic heroine.

The quiet community of Piru is next to Rancho Camulos, founded circa 1887 by a man who came to the valley with the idea of establishing a "Second Garden of Eden." At the turn of the century, the Piru Hotel was the only hotel between Santa Paula and Castaic Junction. It housed cattle buyers and oilman, as well as attracting an occasional movie company on location. Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith stayed here in 1911 when they filmed "Ramona" at Rancho Camulos. Their names can still be read in the Hotel Register. The building's distinctive architecture continues to attract the film industry for use as a set. The hotel appears in such films as "The Five Heartbeats" and "The Silhouette." Set designers often choose the building to represent a setting in the old south or New England.

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