Newberry Springs’ History Uncovered: Mrs. Orcutt's Desert Homestead

Welcome to another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series! In today’s show, we're immersed in the fascinating history of Newberry Springs with community leaders from the Newberry Springs Economic Development Association - Historical Committee, Paul Deel, and Brian Fisher. Together, they share the legacy of Margaret Orcutt and her unique adobe home—complete with handmade blocks, historical gun ports, and even remnants of her greenhouse where she famously grew orchids.

Paul shares personal stories about Margaret and the origins of her home, uncovering its dream as a sanctuary for unwed mothers and a community gathering space. Meanwhile, Brian takes us behind the scenes with the Newberry Springs Historical Committee, revealing the painstaking process of organizing Margaret's archives and bringing her true story to light.

Whether you’re a history buff, outdoor enthusiast, or just curious about the colorful characters that built this desert community, this episode offers a heartfelt look at preserving local heritage and the power of community. So settle in, and let’s journey together through the stories that make Newberry Springs a remarkable stop on Route 66.

DISCUSSION

00:00 Margaret Orcutt's Desert Vision

04:16 "Committee's Historical Cataloging Effort"

09:19 "Route 66 Centennial Adventure"

10:03 "Follow, Listen, Explore, Enjoy"

LEARN MORE

To learn more about NSEDA, visit their website at https://www.nseda.net/.

To learn about Newberry Springs, CA, the Route 66 Big Birthday Bash, the Pistachio Festival, and much more, visit the Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce at https://newberryspringschamber.com/ or on these social sites:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewberrySpringsChamber
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nbsp_chamberofcommerce/

Car & Driver: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15385694/mrs-orcutts-driveway-204-mph-on-a-double-nickel-road-page-1

NEXT STEPS

Visit us at https://outdooradventureseries.com to like, comment, and share our episodes.

KEYWORDS

Paul Deel, Brian Fisher, Mrs. Orcutt's Homestead, Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway, NSEDA, Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce, Route 66 Centennial, Outdoor Adventure Series, Podcast Interview

#PaulDeel #BrianFisher #MrsOrcuttsHomestead #MrsOrcuttsDriveway #NSEDA #NewberrySpringsChamberofCommerce #Route66Centennial #OutdoorAdventureSeries #PodcastInterview

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

This is Howard Fox, and I am back here still in Newberry Springs. Beautiful Saturday morning. We were just catching up with Brian Fisher. He's part of the historical committee here in Newbury Springs, which is a part of the Newbury Springs Economic Development Association. And he's joined us here right now. Paul Deal. Paul, you don't have anything to do on a Saturday morning, do you? Of course not. I'm retired. Of course not. Everybody's retired here. I love that word retired. I don't think that's ever going to happen for me. In any case, these two gentlemen are back here. We're in a very historical piece of property here. We learned a little bit about it with Brian just a few minutes ago. Let me just say it's a fixer-upper, it needs a little work. But there's a lot of history. We are literally standing in the middle of a history. So, Paul and Brian, welcome back to the Outdoor Adventure Series. Paul, where are we, by the way? Tell us, tell us, our listeners, where are we?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Well, we're standing in the conservatory of Margaret Orcutt's Adobe House. It was built around her little travel trailer that she pulled behind her car when she came out here and originally and lived in. The local people built the frame house, covered it in tar paper, and so she lived in this tar paper shack, as they were called, and she handmade the adobe blocks and covered the entire thing in Adobe that made it very comfortable and more comfortable in the winter and in the s summer heat. She was a unique lady. You can see behind me a gun port that she put, and on this side was another gun port, one behind us that was in the on the south wall. And she had visions that this would one day be a home for unwed mothers. Oh, really? Okay. And she had each plant that was here had a little plaque, little brass plaque that it was in memory of one of her friends. Okay. And of course, there those brass plaques are all gone. She had a greenhouse that she raised orchids. And the orchids were apparently very difficult to grow, but she had a lot of people come out just to see her orchids. Ms. Orchot's orchids. Yes. So very good. And she had a there was a a walk around and uh different places she had drinking fountains, and when she had people coming out, she would fill the pit underneath the drinking fountain with crushed ice so that they could drink cold water.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Oh, very nice.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Very nice. And she had a a a lake dug all the way around this place. How she filled it with water, I do not know.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

But you're a plumber. By the way, that uh I would imagine maybe that was a helpful part of the getting the water here. But I have to ask, did you were you involved with the plumbing of this this home?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

I did I did plumbing repairs here from time to time. Okay. And one time she fell coming out of her little trailer. That was she used that for her bedroom and she couldn't get up. And so what do you do? You when you're in the at the live at the end of the world, you call the plumber. So I I came out and I called to her from outside the house before I tried to come in. Right. Make sure that she didn't have her gun on me. She was a she was a competitive marksman.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

And she said to come in and and she was just you know crumpled up down below the steps and covered a little trailer, and I lifted her up and we visited for a couple of minutes and she was she was well. Okay. And uh she was uh very involved in Newberry Springs. There was a uh move to change the name Newberry to Newberry Springs. The reason given was that we wouldn't compete with Newberry Park. But it was really because Newberry was being advertised at the time as the next Palm Springs. Oh god. And so in order to make it a little sexier, she was involved in changing the name to Newberry Springs. Okay. And uh so she was she was very ac very, very unique. Okay. Very special.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Very good. So Brian, how do you and Paul and and the rest of the committee working together to to really uh uncover the uniqueness of this home and the history here?

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Well, when we first started our committee about three months ago, I was appointed the chairman of the committee. And what we did then is we would seek out people that had history of Newberry Springs, and one of the things that I discovered was that Paul here had rescued a large barrel full of paperwork, and that mutual friend of ours, Vicky Paulson, had taken that paperwork and organized it into boxes, and she had six uh full-size file boxes full of papers all in folders, probably about well, r around thirty folders per box. And so I got a hold of Vicky and I picked up these boxes, brought them home and I'm going through them to catalog them so that there's uh we're indexing them so that we know where and what is it is in there so that we can use that to create a historical story about Mrs. Orcutt and to try to do it as accurate and from the perspective that she left behind rather than what everybody says. Okay. Because history gets changed every time you turn around. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

And I it's a long, arguous job to do so.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Good thing you're retired.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah, it's a good thing I'm retired. And anyway, and I'm going through and I'm reading all these letters, I'm reading looking at all these pictures, uh, she's got her tax returns in there, letters to and from companies. She didn't hesitate to complain if she had some a problem with something or somebody.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

She could always invite them out here. Come on, let's have a conversation. I see these got gun holes here.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

Yeah, it was she was she was very involved in her church, and I've just gotten up to the point where her mother passed away.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

And there's like a dozen different sympathy letters and everything concerning that. Okay. So Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I'm curious, as you're going through the the the papers, and Paul, you had mentioned this was the vision of a community center or a visitor center, and you mentioned that there was an instrument here up in in the room we're s we're uh standing in right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Yes. We're standing in the in the conservatory. There was uh a concert grand piano here. Who knew? She's a talented lady. She she was a concert celloist. Wow. Cello, that's the harp, isn't it? No, she's a harpist. Where do I get cello from? She's a string instrument. Yes, uh harpist. And uh she among among her many accomplishments.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Okay. Yeah. Very nice. I'm curious, I know Brian, you mentioned that there are a lot of papers, very few photos. Have you uh been able to find any photographs of this building when it was par actual functioning conservatory and somebody sitting at the at the grand piano or not to my knowledge, no. That would be pretty cool, I think.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yeah, I I've got a long ways to go through these file cases, obviously. And most of the pictures that I've come across there are of people that are really not related to the area, friends, because she did come from the Midwest.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

And had quite a few contacts and lived there. Her mother came was living there for quite a long time.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

She moved to the Los Angeles area and she was there for a while. I don't know exactly the dates on those. And then she came here to Newberry, and which is where I'm picking up her life at this point.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Okay. Very good, very good. Well, I appreciate you gentlemen taking time out of your Saturdays to join me, join our listeners, and share with them on the Outdoor Adventure Series a little history of Mrs. Orcutt and her wonderful home and all the little intricate pieces of her life and history here. And it's it's wonderful to kind of stay to hear some of that story and also know historically that there is a committee, an organization, hopefully in the future, that really is going to be attracting visitors here to learn more about the this wonderful area and just you know what it what it has to offer. So thank you both. Good to have you, Gary.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Good to have you. Well, one of our goals with the Historical Committee is to eventually establish a visitor center and a historical society where we could house and make this stuff available for people to see.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

So that's so you're not going to fix up this house.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Uh no, I don't think you could legally do so anymore.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Okay. There are we're gonna have some photos in our show notes, but there there's there's some interesting aspects of of this house right now. But I love those gum ports, so I think that's pretty cool. But again, gentlemen, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Oh, thank you very much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

All right, folks, I hope you enjoyed today's episode of the outdoor adventure series. Again, we are spending the weekend here in Newberry Springs, part of our centennial celebration of Route 66. And yesterday, again today, just meeting, getting reacquainted with some wonderful residents here who are so passionate about this area. Listen, we're gonna have all the backlinks to the societies, the the historical society committees and CEDA. I'm getting too used to saying this acronym now, but the Chamber of Commerce, we'll have those backlinks and some photos in our show notes. You'll find this episode on our website, outdooradventureseries.com. The video of this episode will be up on our YouTube channel. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, and of course, you can listen to this episode as you're driving down the mother road towards Newberry Springs, where you should be ensuring that you make a stop or uh and just explore it for a couple days if you can. You can listen to this podcast episode wherever you get your podcast from. Okay, folks, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, go out there and have a fantastic day. Take care.