Proudly Presents our
Ghost Town of the Month
June/July 2017
REBIRTH in harmony
San Luis Obispo Co., California
by
tiME TO GET
BACK IN HARMONY!
This month, GHOST TOWN USA is escaping to California’s magnificent and ethereal Central Coast and
the former dairy town of HARMONY.
This quirky, pint-sized townlet looks nothing
like what most folks consider a standard ghost town, even though its aged Main
Street was once the state highway, and looks as old as it is. But there’s something else at work here that
makes this laid-back minitown wear larger than it
really is. Its draw is tourists, but not
the normal ghost towning type. I can’t really put my finger on it, but there
is just an aura here that reaches out and pulls art collecting, tea & wine
epicurean, former hippie types into its heart and soul. A visit here is not just a quick stop at some
funky, artsy-fartsy coastal town, but a meeting of
kindred spirits.
Located just north
of State Highway (SH) 1, 5.5 miles south of the beach resort town of Cambria in
the heart of California’s Central Coast west of San Luis Obispo HARMONY
is, in fact, true to its name. The
three largest buildings are still active, two as art galleries, and the third
as a community center. The two former cater to those seeking unique and locally-produced
artworks ranging from pottery to paintings to custom glass creations to other whatzits. For those
like me that come for the history, that subject exudes from the very soil, the
peeling paint on the buildings, and the trees around the townsite.
Yet, the harmonious
name and bucolic landscape don’t properly reflect the bickering, fighting and
general discord amongst the settlers for the first 38 years of “civilization”
here. It was originally founded in 1869
by a group of Swiss dairy farmers from the southern end of that country. In 1901, a creamery owned by the Harmony Valley
Dairy Association (a co-op) was established in the tiny settlement tucked in
among the dairy ranches scattered about the area and in 1901. Even so, there continued to be a lot of
bickering and fighting amongst the settlers.
Problems that eventually lead to a killing.
FINALLY, in 1907,
the various rivalries ended and truce was made.
The town officially named itself HARMONY to show that peace had
arrived. Over the decade or so, HARMONY
slowly grew into a busy little town with a blacksmith, the creamery, a “dairy
management office”, employee bunkhouse, feed store, livery stable and a
school. Some 400 dairy farmers were
members of the co-op and the creamery produced as much as 1200 pounds of cheese
and butter a day, and kept 10 folks bustling, producing high-quality butter,
cheese, buttermilk and other dairy products that put the Harmony brand out
there..
In 1915 a Post
Office opened and once automobile traffic increased and the highway connecting
San Luis Obispo to Cambria was put through in 1931 a gas station opened. In 1934, that section of highway became an
official part of SH 1. The creamery
became a popular stopping point for tourists traveling the coastal highway,
which cut through the heart of town (being rerouted south of town at a later
date.) Newspaper publisher William
Randolph Hearst was a frequent visitor on his forays to his mansion (Hearst
Castle) further up the coast. It is said
that Hollywood figures going to visit Hearst also made frequent stops here.
By the mid 1950s,
dairy farming grew more consolidated, and may small operations like those at
harmony declined. In 1955, the Harmony
Valley Creamery Association creamery shipped its last chunk of cheese, and
closed its doors. HARMONY
sputtered, but didn’t quite die. By
1970, the official population had dropped to 8, and was nearly abandoned. A few years later, throughout California (and
the country) hippies and many other artistic counter-culture types escaped the
city to seek rural settings and tiny forgotten towns where they could be
themselves and practice their new-found lifestyles. HARMONY was one of those places
rediscovered. The mostly abandoned
buildings were renovated and turned into shops and restaurants and HARMONY
was reborn.
As the 70s moved
into the 80s, then into the 90s, HARMONY sputtered again. In 1997, the restaurant closed after multiple
ownerships and in that same year the town was put up for sale, and sold. The new owner didn’t put a lot of work into
the community, and it continued to just hang in there. Finally in April 2008 the Post Office
closed. A few years later, he put the
town back on the market, and in 2014, new owners purchased the one-block, 2.5
acre town. They want to “honor and
preserve” the history here by restoring the buildings. The family that purchased the town is a three-generation
dairying family and knows the business and the history represented here. Right now (May 2017) HARMONY is dreaming big,
along with its new owners. A lot is in
store, and I personally wish them well and look forward to a future visit with
these projected businesses!.
At the time of our
visit in April 2017, businesses I saw included the Harmony Cellars (a nearby
winery), Harmony Chapel (wedding chapel), Harmony Glassworks (est 2007) and Harmony Pottery
Shop.
Despite cyclical
economic booms and busts, ownership changes - some of which made national news
– the “bite-sized, wacky, one-block wonder” called HARMONY
persisted. The stubbornness of the
original Swiss settlers must have worn off on the community, because even
though Tombstone, AZ
calls itself the “Town Too Tough to
Die,” HARMONY
could easily make that same claim, AND it’s still here 148 years later! Maybe in two years as they celebrate their
sesquicentennial (150 years), we can all visit and join them celebrating in HARMONY!
As always, when you visit, please abide by any posted signage, respect the rights of the property owners
and always abide by the Ghost
Towner's Code of Ethics.
For more
interactive ghost town fun, go to my Ghost Towns Yesterday
& Today Facebook group or the Ghost Town USA
page.
Population figures:
1970 - 5, 1980 - 20,
1990 - 50, 2000 – 50, 2010 – 18 (from sign)
Location:
Former
Spanish Land Grant in T27S, R8E, Mount Diablo Baseline & Meridian (NO
“Sections” noted)
Latitude: 35.5085836 / 35° 30' 31" N
Longitude:
-121.0226879 / 121° 01'
22" W
Sources:
GNIS
(Geographic names Information System)
Personal
visits (2012, 2017)
Visit Ghost Town USA’s CALIFORNIA
Ghost Town Pages
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FIRST POSTED: September 01,
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LAST UPDATED: May 29, 2017
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