New Book by Steve Lech

I told you a few weeks ago that local history writer and researcher Steve Lech has a new book out which details the history of each park in the Riverside County park system. Four of the parks in his book are in our fair city and I thought I would give you a little taste of what is in Steve's book. The following excerpt concerns the property that now is home to the Louis Robidoux Nature Center:

Charles and Alice Judson had purchased the property in the late 1920s hoping to start a pecan nursery. However, in the early years of the Great Depression, few if any people purchased the trees, so Judson planted them and made a grove of about 40 acres.

Alice Judson particularly enjoyed the tranquility of the area and of their pecan grove. She spent much time there enjoying the views and aquainting herself with the property. Almost every evening at sundown she took a walk through the more easterly grove and enjoyed not only the scenery but also the wildlife living there. When she died in April 1971, her ashes were scattered in that eastern grove, near the house, so that she would be there forever.