THE NEWLAND HOUSE

The Newland House is the oldest home in Huntington Beach CA. It was built and owned by Mr. & Mrs. Newland back in 1898 for $1485.00.

It is the the only Queen Ann Victorian Style home left in Huntington Beach.

This home has been restored and is now available for tours. The home is furnished in the style that it was while the Newland's still lived there. Many of the items were the actual belongings of the Newlands.

Mr. & Mrs. Newland had 10 children. Two were born in this house. There was no running water and until they added the water tower the men would have to go fetch the water and bring it up to the home daily.

Would you like to come take a look inside? Come on, let's go in.


This is the kitchen. It was very modern for it's day. See the lamp? It is a kerosene lamp. That was the only type of light they had when they first moved in. Later, the house was fitted with gas pipes and the lights were then fueled by the gas.


Look at that stove. It is wood burning. Mrs. Newland would cook for her whole family plus all the farm hands on that stove.

When it was Tues. the oven heated up about 7 irons that would be used to iron all the clothes that were washed on Monday. That must have taken all day to hand wash all those clothes and then to iron them all took another whole day.

There is a "bread table" that was used to make the bread. You can see there is also a cherry pitter, apple peeler and a nut cracker on there. Those items really saved a lot of hard work.

Over at the cupboard you can see some of the actual tin goods that belonged to the Newlands. Also, a coffee grinder and meat grinder can be seen. As well as the butter churner on top.

The little bonnet on the door was Mrs. Newland's actual bonnet.

This is the room that all the fruits, veggies and meats that were canned durning the year was stored.

This allowed them to have items they grew on their farm durning the winter months.

This is the guest room that is downstairs. It was common for strangers to stop by when they were on a long trip. They would spend the night, have a nice breakfast then pack up and continue on with their travels.

It was the families custom to have friends and family that came to visit to enter through the back door. Only strangers and peddlers came to the front door. That is why the guest room is right by the front door.

This is the sun room. It was added on in 1915 as one of the daughters got TB and was very sick. The Dr. recommend she be placed in a room that got lots of sunlight. So Mr. and Mrs. Newland had this room built for her.

Once she got better they turned into a sun room.

This is the desk that Mrs. Newland would keep the books from the ranch. Her ledger is open and waiting for the next entry.

This is the dinning area. The actual table and chairs as well as the every day dishes are here.

The fireplace would be going on the cold winter nights. Other then the stove this is the only other source of heating in this house.

The silver tea set and clock that once belonged to the Newlands are on display.

Let's go upstairs now. Be careful, the stairs are very steep. So please hold on to the railing.

This is the tower room. It was first used as Mr. Newland's office but then once he got to old to go up and down the stairs with ease Mrs. Newland and the girls turned it into their sewing room.

This is Mrs. Newland's rocking chair. She used to sit for hours on her porch in this chair when she was in her 80's and 90's and unable to be as active as she once was.

This is the families only bathroom. The "sink" was the pitcher and bowl that would have water in it. The chest of drawers held towels, soap and other sundries. The only "toilet" they had was the white chamber pot.

All of this is out in the open in a tiny little alcove upstairs.

This is the where the girls slept after 1915. This room is built up above the sun room. There would be 3 or 4 girls sleeping in this room at a time.

These dolls can be found in the play room that used to be the bedroom before 1915.

These were the Christening gowns worn by the Newland children.

A darling little tea set that the children played with .

So we are now back downstairs again. This is the parents room. This is their actual dresser.

There bed was tiny by today's standards. It is what we would call a 3/4 bed. Almost the size of a double.

The nursery room is right next to the parents room and even has a connecting door way. The two younger children slept in here.

This is the chair that one of the Newland boys used to rock his children to sleep in. He gave it to the Newland house to display. The picture above the chair is a painting of one of the children.

Look at this bed. Can you believe that three of the boys slept in this bed every night. Well they did.

This was their dresser that they used to keep all their clothes in.

This area is where you walk into. The back entrance. It used to be a porch but then Mr. Newland enclosed it.

This was thier "washing machine". Guess we shouldn't even complain about doing the wash again!

This is the bell that Mrs. Newland would ring when meals were ready. That way everyone who was out in the fields could hear it and come to eat.

This is a photo of Mr. Newland. He was born in 1850 and died in 1933. It is said there was a fire burning in his fields and he died trying to put it out.

This is Mrs. Newland about 4 years before she died of old age. She was born in 1859 and died in 1952.

Sadly all of the Newland family have now died.

Hope you enjoyed our tour as much as I did. I love to go through old homes and learn the history of the family that lived there.

Hugs,

Joanne