We found lots of great stuff. The old library has Escondido High School yearbooks going back to 1903. The train depot still contains the dispatcher's table and telegraph, plus the platform scale used to weigh fruit grown in the area. Standing tall and looking fierce is the 2,200-pound grizzly bear for which Bear Valley is named. The barn houses the 1935 Borra Winery Dodge panel truck and the 1917 Willys Overland used for deliveries from Rube Nelson's grocery, along with an old working printing press.
Blacksmiths still work in the Bandy shop making tools and doing all types of iron work.
The railroad car features a working scale model of the train that used to make the 22-mile trip to Oceanside. The Victorian House is decorated and furnished in the way it might have looked in the early 1900s. There's plenty more, all of which will be open to the public during the 45th anniversary open house from 1 to 4 p.m. today. If you can't make it today, the historic buildings are open from 1 to 4 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Make sure you take advantage of the knowledge of the volunteer docents who staff each building.