| Rancho del Cielo | |
|---|---|
| "Reagan Ranch" "Western White House" | |
.jpg) | |
| Location | Santa Ynez Mountains,Santa Barbara County, California |
| Coordinates | 34°31′50″N120°04′33″W / 34.530478°N 120.075932°W /34.530478; -120.075932 |
| Area | 688 acres (278 ha) |
| Elevation | 2,240 feet (680 m)[citation needed] |
| Built | 1872[citation needed] |
| Original use | Vacation home ofRonald andNancy Reagan |
| Architectural styles | California ranch andAdobe |
| Owner | Young America's Foundation |
| Website | yaf |
  Location of Rancho del Cielo in California | |
Rancho del Cielo is aranch located atop theSanta Ynez Mountain range northwest ofSanta Barbara, California. For more than 20 years, it was the vacation home ofRonald andNancy Reagan.
The 688-acre (278 ha) ranch's Spanish name translates to Sky's Ranch or Heaven's Ranch in English. In 1974, Reagan's family purchased the ranch, and he himself frequented the ranch throughouthis presidency. The ranch is currently owned and operated by theYoung America's Foundation.
The ranch was originally named Rancho de los Picos afterJosé Jesús Pico, a descendant ofSantiago de la Cruz Pico who arrived with theAnza Expedition in 1776, whohomesteaded it and built the originaladobe house in 1871. The Pico family owned the ranch until 1941, when Joe, one of Jose Pico's sons, sold it to Santa Barbara County surveyor Frank Flournoy for $6,000 (equal to $128,300 today[1]). In turn, he sold the ranch to Ray and Rosalie Cornelius, who then purchased additional land for the property.[citation needed]
Ronald Reagan's family owned a ranch in theSanta Monica Mountains that was much closer to their home inBel Air, Los Angeles. The Reagans sold that ranch to a movie company and it is now part ofMalibu Creek State Park.[2][3] The Reagans then bought the ranch from the Corneliuses for about $527,000 in 1974 (equal to approximately $3,360,000 today[1]) when his second term asgovernor of California was nearing an end. The estate contains a pond called Lake Lucky, stables and a barn for horses, and a 1,500 ft² (139 m²) house furnished with 1970s-style furniture. The ranch is located in a remote area on the crest of the Santa Ynez Mountains overlooking theGaviota Coast. The nearest highway on the ocean side of the mountains isU.S. Route 101, withSolvang, California being the nearest community on the inland side of the mountains.[citation needed]
Reagan spent vacations duringhis presidency at the ranch, which became known as theWestern White House.[4] He signed theEconomic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 at the ranch and at various times hosted British prime ministerMargaret Thatcher, QueenElizabeth II and Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev.[5] Due to its connection to Reagan, Rancho del Cielo has also been called the "Reagan Ranch".[6] After leaving the presidency in 1989, the Reagans moved to a home in Bel Air, but kept the ranch as a retreat.[citation needed]
Because of hisAlzheimer's disease, Reagan last visited the ranch in 1995. Nancy last visited in 1998, before selling the property to theYoung America's Foundation, a conservative group which preserves it today as "a living monument to Reagan's ideas, values, and lasting accomplishments."[5] Although the ranch is closed to the public, the foundation offers students and supporters the opportunity to visit the property.[7][5]
The ranch appears in the 127th episode ofCalifornia's Gold.[8]
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