Newbury Park is a populated placeSnyder, Tom (2014). Pacific Coast Highway: Traveler's Guide. St. Martin's Griffin. Page 153. .Dr. Raza, Moonis (1990). Geographical Dictionary of the World. Concept Publishing Company. Page 1279. .Real Estate Communications, Inc. (1984). California Real Estate Directory. Page 201. in Ventura County, California, United States. Most of it lies within the western Thousand Oaks city limits, while unincorporated areas include Casa Conejo and Ventu Park. The neighborhood is located in Southern California around from the Pacific Ocean and has a mild year-round climate, scenic mountains, and environmental preservation. About 28,000 residents of Thousand Oaks reside in Newbury Park.
Newbury Park makes up around 40 percent of the total land area of Thousand Oaks. Lying within the Conejo Valley in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, Newbury Park abuts the Santa Monica Mountains. It is approximately 35 miles (56 km) from Downtown Los Angeles and less than 7 mi (11 km) from the Los Angeles County border in Westlake Village. The closest coastal city is neighboring Malibu which may be reached through winding roads, a bike path, or hiking trails crossing the Santa Monica Mountains. It makes up all of ZIP code 91320, and is within area code 805.
Etymology Timberville was a 19th-century name for Newbury Park.Brant, Cherie (2006). Keys to the County: Touring Historic Ventura County. Ventura County Museum. Page 135. .Bidwell, Carol A. (1989). The Conejo Valley: Old and New Frontiers. Windsor Publications. Page 32. . Newbury Park is named after its founder Egbert Starr Newbury,Begun, Ruthanne (2006). The Newburys of Newbury Park. Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 22. . who was also the first postmaster in the Conejo Valley in 1875.Maulhardt, Jeffrey Wayne (2010). Conejo Valley. Arcadia Publishing. Page 119. .Sprankling, Miriam and Ruthanne Begun (2012). Tales and Voices of the Conejo. Newbury Park, CA: Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 97. . Egbert Starr Newbury called his ranch here "Newbury Park", which became the name for the entire town.
Newbury had purchased 2200 acres of a former rancho in the Conejo Valley, but he and his family lived there for only six years. They returned to Michigan in 1877 because he was forced into bankruptcy due to crop and livestock losses after a protracted drought.
The Newbury Park Post Office has operated at numerous sites, but the Newbury Park name has survived, even though much of the area was incorporated into the city of Thousand Oaks.
Newbury had chosen the name "Newbury Park" for the US post office, as he felt the area looked like a park.Begun, Ruthanne (2006). The Newburys of Newbury Park. Conejo Valley Historical Society. Pages 7 and 40. .Sprankling, Miriam (2002). Discovering the Story of The Conejo Valley. Newbury Park, CA: Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 29. .Begun, Miriam and Ruthanne Sprankling (2009). Ladies of The Conejo. Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 18. .
History Pre-colonial period
Anthropologist John P. Harrington wrote, c. 1900, what he was told by the local Chumash people: Early one morning in 9080 B.C., the ancestral grandfather from whom I took my name, headed west on one of his most adventurous hunting trips ever... As the group climbed Old Boney, they looked back to the north and could see the pleasant openings of the Conejo and Hidden Valleys. There, there appeared to be good grazing ground for the mammoth herd and they proceeded thence.Maxwell, Thomas J. (1982). The Temescals of Arroyo Conejo. California Lutheran College. Page 9. Library of Congress Catalog Number 82-072788.
This story may be related to the lore about the Paleo-Indians, who are believed by some to be the distant ancestors of the Chumash.Maxwell (1982). The Temescals, Pages 5–9. Mammoth fossils were unearthed in Newbury Park in 1961 and later in 1971. They are on display at the Stagecoach Inn Museum.Maxwell (1982). The Temescals, Page 5. The Newbury Park area is believed to have been inhabited by people of the Chumash culture for at least the past 6,000,McTigue, Mickey (1993). Mountain Biking the Coast Range: Ventura County & the Sespe Guide 4. Fine Edge Publications. Page 17. . 7,000,Brundige, Don and Sharron (1994). Bicycle Rides: Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. B-D Enterprises. Page 220. . 8,000, or perhaps 10,000 years.Tennesen, Michael (2007). Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Western National Parks Association. Pages 13–14. .Bidwell, Carol A. (1989). The Conejo Valley: Old and New Frontiers. Windsor Publications. Page 13. .
The Newbury Park area was previously the site of three Chumash villages: Satwiwa by the southern edge of town, and two villages located near today's Ventu Park Road. These villages were settled 2,000 years ago, and had a population of 100–200 inhabitants in each village.Casey, Lynda (1984). The Story of the Conejo Valley: The Westlake Chumash Indians. Westlake Research Committee. Page 5.
In addition, a large Chumash village was located just north of what is now known as Wildwood Regional Park in the Arroyo Conejo Open Space. Other nearby villages include Lalimanux (Lalimanuc or Lalimanuh) at the base of the Conejo Grade by westernmost Newbury Park, and Kayɨwɨš or Kayiwish (Kawyis) (CA-Ven-243), also near the Conejo Grade. This region contains numerous pictographs.Maxwell, Thomas J. (1982). The Temescals of Arroyo Conejo. California Lutheran College. Page 93. Library of Congress Catalog Number 82-072788.
The Newbury Park area contains many ancient burial sites, most near the Santa Monica Mountains in the southern portion of the community. Many burial items have been discovered in the area, most notably by Rancho Sierra Vista in southern Newbury Park. Satwiwa, which is Chumash for "the bluffs", was the name of a nearby village by the Big Sycamore Canyon. The canyon was a popular trading route for the Chumash and Tongva people, connecting the Conejo Valley to Mugu Lagoon through the Santa Monica Mountains.Straus, Naomi (2004). Let's Go California 10th Edition. Macmillan. p. 474, .
Satwiwa is now protected as a part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.Stienstra, Tom and Ann Marie Brown (2012). Moon California Hiking: The Complete Guide to 1,000 of the Best Hikes in the Golden State. Avalon Travel. Page 711. .Lightfoot, Kent G. and Otis Parrish (2009). California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction. Page 258. University of California Press. .Eargle, Dolan H. (1992). California Indian Country: The Land & The People. Trees Company Press. Page 122. . But the remains of two other Chumash villages are located on private lands by Ventu Park Road. These are known as CA-Ven-65, CA-Ven-261, and CA-Ven-260 near the fieldhouse in Newbury Park. At CA-Ven-261 is an ancient Chumash burial site, which suggests that the village existed here for a considerable time.Maxwell, Thomas J. (1982). The Temescals of Arroyo Conejo. California Lutheran College. Page 137. Library of Congress Catalog Number 82-072788.
The Ventureño Chumash initially settled in the west end of the Santa Monica Mountains because of the abundant food supply. Roots, berries, seeds, bulbs, acorns and walnuts were plentiful in the region, and a variety of wildlife including birds, deer and squirrels made for good hunting. Shellfish and fish were transported from the nearby Mugu Lagoon across the Santa Monicas. The abundance of jackrabbits and other rabbit species were hunted widely for fur and meat. At one point, the Chumash here gathered a group of 27 men and killed hundreds of rabbits during a rabbit round-up, which was a significant event of late summers in the Conejo Valley.Maxwell, Thomas J. (1982). The Temescals of Arroyo Conejo. California Lutheran College. Pages 78. Library of Congress Catalog Number 82-072788.
Various Chumash artifacts from these older settlements, along with petroglyphs, have been found along the Arroyo Conejo, at Rancho Sierra Vista, and particularly in the Santa Monica Mountains.Ciolek-Torrello, Richard (2006). A Passage in Time: The Archaeology and History of the Santa Susana Pass State Historical Park, California. Statistical Research. Page 42. .Whitley, David S. and Ellen L. McCann (1980). Inland Chumash Archaeological Investigations. Institute of Archaeology. Pages 155 and 255.
The Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center and the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park have displays based on some of these finds, as does the Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks.
In partnership with Friends of Satwiwa, in 1978 the National Park Service began talks of developing the current Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center and Natural Area. Boney Mountain in southern Newbury Park is identified as a sacred site for the Chumash, and nearby Satwiwa is frequently used by the Chumash Barbareño-Ventureño Band of Mission Indians for private events, such as traditional dances and sacred ceremonies.Kennedy, Frances H. (2008). American Indian Places: A Historical Guidebook. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Page 243. .
19th century
When the Europeans first arrived in the Conejo Valley, they pressed plow to furrow and fields to barley and wheat.Schroeder, Anne (2000). Branches on the Conejo: Leaving the Soil After Five Generations. Russell Dean & Company, pg. 121; Newbury Park is named after its founder, Egbert Starr Newbury, who owned thousands of acres of land in the Conejo Valley and later became the first postmaster. E.S. Newbury, Howard Mills, and John Edwards were among the first to buy former Rancho El Conejo land in the early 1870s. El Rancho Conejo was an area which today encompasses most of the Conejo Valley and was named for its many rabbits. Its name derives from a Spanish land grant in California, encouraged by the Spanish- and Mexican governments.Pryor, Alton (2014). The Mexican Land Grants of California. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. .
Newbury and his wife Fannie moved to California from Michigan of health reasons in 1871. He later became the first postmaster in the Conejo Valley in 1875. The post office was near their house which was located at the current location of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. E.S. Newbury purchased 2,200 acres of land in 1874, which stretched from today's old town Thousand Oaks and into Hidden Valley in southern Newbury Park.Maulhardt, Jeffrey Wayne (2010). Conejo Valley (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing, pg. 13;
In the 1870s, Egbert S. Newbury and his wife Fannie moved full-time to their ranch in Conejo Valley which they named "Newbury Park" because the land looked so much like a park community.Begun, Ruthanne (2006). The Newburys of Newbury Park. Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 7. .Begun, Ruthanne (2006). The Newburys of Newbury Park. Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 40. . It consisted of his house, barn, and a guest house for visitors to "enjoy the healthful climate", according to E.S. Newbury. The area was remote and only five families lived in the Conejo Valley at the time, all on large ranch lands. The ranches were miles apart and there were no grocery stores, medical facilities, schools, or churches in the valley.Begun, Ruthanne (2006). The Newburys of Newbury Park. Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 37. . Newbury had acres of wheat and owned thousands of sheep. The weather had a great impact on his health, and he wrote to his sister Kittie in Michigan on November 23, 1874: