The Big Yellow House

I promised to post something about the history of the Big yellow House in Summerland, California. Here is another extract from my forthcoming book "The Keepsake" that does just that.

Lionel

“Religious camps were much in vogue and Henry L. Williams, a wealthy man who had retired from government service to live in Santa Barbara, bought the Ortega Ranch between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria. His wife was a Spiritualist and he also became convinced of their teachings. He decided he wanted to build a community for Spiritualists. It would be similar to the existing camps but his plans were more ambitious. He offered small lots to Spiritualists and in many instances did not charge for them. Some people used their lots on which to pitch a tent whenever they visited but others bought several lots and built permanent residences.

Williams himself lived in the Ortega Ranch house but he also built a large house after his first wife died. At first it was rented by a medium but after Williams’ untimely death, his second wife lived there. This house is now the restaurant you visited.

He invited Spiritualists to rent or buy the houses and lots to create a community he called Summerland. Summerland was the name for the part of the spiritual world where children go when they die and it was visited by the seer, Andrew Jackson Davis, in one of his visions. However, most people believe Williams chose the name because of the wonderful climate it enjoys. He wrote in 1892, “Spiritualism, with its millions of believers, needs a home where its truths may be developed and taught in a systematic manner.” He had intended to build “homes for worn out mediums, sanitaria, colleges and other institutions of learning; to aid in the most practical way, the higher classes of mediumship.” These ambitious plans were never realised because oil and gas were discovered ten years after the launch of Summerland, which changed the nature of the town and its inhabitants.

Well known mediums were invited to give séances in the new town and almost every night there would be meetings and séances in the Liberty Hall which Williams had built. Remarkable phenomena occurred, like spirits materialising so they were visible to everyone present, looking just as they did when they were living on earth. Many such séances were held in darkness, even in those days but not at Summerland. All the phenomena took place in full view of the audience and in good light. People were attracted to the new community from across the USA. More houses were built and some streets were named after well known mediums of the time. Two were named after Britons. Hardinge Street, after trance medium Emma Hardinge and Evans Street after Fred P. Evans the great psychographer, or slate writer. He settled in San Francisco and his written evidence proving life after death was incredible.

Séances also took place at the Big Yellow House when tenanted by a Dr. Norton, a well known medium and mediums often visited when Williams’ widow took it over. The family claimed the upper floor was home to several spirits with whom they were on friendly terms.

The Spiritualist community finally dissolved when the freeway was driven through the town in 1951. Even their church moved to Santa Barbara and is still known today as ‘The Summerland Church of the Comforter,’ although Liberty Hall was demolished to make way for the Freeway.”