The Main Post

The ranch’s gracious and historical main post, anchored by the nearly 200-year old adobe is set within 6 acres of grounds and gardens.  The main house, the oldest continuously occupied house in California, has been our family home for six generations. The grounds and gardens consist of an important collection of unusual and in some cases, endangered plants and trees that support biodiversity throughout the ranch. 

The main post remains a family home, where the Lloyd-Butler family lives, entertains and holds important celebrations.  The Big House, the oldest continuously occupied in California, has 3 spacious public rooms, a comfortable sitting room, expansive porches and 6 spacious bedrooms.  

Two mid 19th century cottages serve as a guest house and as the ranch’s office. The Chapel, in an early 19th Century octagonal pavilion, is often used for sacraments and ceremonies as it has been since it was consecrated as a Roman Catholic church in 1926.

Grounds and Gardens

Rancho Santa Clara del Norte’s grounds and gardens consist of more than 6,000 trees and plants representing over 800 species and cultivars, spanning over six acres.  The grounds are divided into some 10 different gardens, ranging from the dry cactus garden to the stately Great Lawn, to the intimate Stumpery Garden.

The gardens began as a humble swept yard, a common feature of Spanish and Mexican Ranchos in the early 1800s.  Soil was dampened, allowed to dry and then swept to minimize dust in the summer and mud in the winter. Native shrubs and vines adorned the buildings and small trees provided much needed shade.  

As ranch operations became more prosperous, an elegant garden was laid out in the Italian style, to accompany the elegant proportions of the newly refurbished main house.  Its typically Italian features included a central axis, horizontally bisected by the Springville canal, and punctuated by a circle of Phoenix canariensis palms.  

Among the 6000 trees and plants is a collection of 100 mature and important trees, 95 palms and cycads from 30 different species, 40 species of cycads and an unusual collection of cacti, 70 specimen camellias and a collection of rare miniature conifers.

Other more recently added gardens include a Palmetum which contains over 60 palms, 40 cycads and unusual agave.  There’s a cactus garden with rare plants including a Brazilian blue cactus and a magical Stumpery garden which is a shady space bounded by 165 stumps, logs and branches inset with ferns, begonia and miniature conifers.