RANCHO BERNARDO: Historical Society looks at fall for museum construction

By GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Tuesday, August 19, 2008 7:17 PM PDT ∞

RANCHO BERNARDO --- Its artifacts sit in a metal shipping container and its museum is a modest former tool shed, but the Rancho Bernardo Historical Society's dream of a new home is getting closer to reality, with construction expected to being sometime this fall.

"The idea for a museum started over 20 years ago," said society vice president Nancy Canfield. "It just sort of languished for a number of years."

The group's second annual Twilight Concert on the Green raised $14,000 last Saturday, placing the society within $40,000 of the $300,000 needed for construction, said Tom Cook of the group.

The lack of a museum or even a history book about the area has been a point of frustration for many residents of Rancho Bernardo, a community whose very name reflects the earliest days of California.

But as it nears its fundraising goal before beginning construction of a 2,100-square-foot museum at Bernardo Winery, the group is facing yet another challenge in meeting a requirement to install a fire hydrant. Just where the hydrant is installed could mean a difference of thousands of dollars for the group.

Cook said installing a hydrant near the building will be more expensive because it will affect the water pressure of existing hydrants at the winery, and improvements would have to be made to the water lines, which are in the city of Poway.

An alternative would be to install a hydrant at the entrance of the winery on Paseo del Verano Norte, which is within the city of San Diego. Cook said he has been discussing the alternatives with both cities.

Meanwhile, the society is raising money through various means, including engraving the names of people who donate $250 or $500 on bricks that will be installed at the museum.

Once the $300,000 needed for construction is reached, the society will be at only the halfway point, Canfield said. Another $300,000 is needed for an endowment fund that will keep the museum running, she said.

The society has had a few false starts in creating a museum, Canfield said. A plan 20 years ago to build a museum at Webb Park was scraped because a monthly $2,000 fee would have been prohibitive, she said.

Historical Museum Director Susan Floyd said the group also had plans to move the historic Rancho Bernardo Information Center to the winery to use it as a museum, but the idea was scrapped last year because retrofitting the building was too expensive. The building was demolished in March 2007.

For now, the Historical Society's archival room is in a metal shed and its museum is next door in a tool shed at the winery. Floyd said the buildings are far from adequate.

"Escondido has a museum, Poway has a museum, but Rancho Bernardo has no facility," she said. "And we're losing our heritage right now."

Inside the storage shed are boxes of phone books from the 1960s, copies of Rancho Magazine and Bernardo Bindings from the 1970s, photos and newspapers. The room has no humidity or temperature controls, and some material is stored in another location during the hottest months of the year, Floyd said.

"We need a building to take care of the collections that have been amassed over the years," she said, adding that some newspapers have been gnawed by insects.

Floyd said there probably are people who have even more historical items to donate to the museum, but she suspects they are waiting until the Historical Society has a more appropriate place for them.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.

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