Heritage Hill Historical Park

Great lil place to visit and take docent led tour for free. It is located literally behind a shopping center on Trabucco and Lake Forest Road. Went during the Christmas season and they had a great little decorations.

My fiancé (now husband) originally found this place when we were looking at outdoor venues for our wedding/​reception. It was one of our first places we looked, and after much searching, we were drawn back to this one. It is so adorable and extremely affordable.
The staff is extremely helpful with any questions you might have and is fairly flexible. However, there are certain guidelines since it is a historical park, but nothing that really held us back from having our dream wedding.
We originally were going to have our ceremony outdoors in the arbor, but as it came closer to our wedding day, the weather kept climbing higher. We were given the option of switching to the church, which had a/​c, as long as we were under a certain number of guests. We decided it was definitely a better option to go to the church instead.
The reception area is a fairly sized area in the corner of the park. It already is supplied with picnic tables, which is covered by a large green canopy. Despite it being hot that day, once under the canopy, it was a nice temperature, and our guests enjoyed it.
Overall, an extremely cute and cozy location for a wedding. Our guests could not stop commenting on how perfect it was. I definitely recommend this place!

After our first wedding photos venue dropped out on us last second, we moved everything here. We absolutely loved it.
My wife and I love the rustic feel of the park. It also gave a lot of different backdrops from a ranch house to a small pioneer church and everything in between. I definitely want to go back and actually enjoy the park’s offerings… especially when it’s not 95 degrees like it was this day.

A small, 4-​acre historic park preserving the early history of El Toro and the Saddleback Valley dating from the Mexican Rancho era… and a quaint park to stroll around while enjoying your morning bagel & brew…
Or, in my case, a nifty little place to throw a wedding using a blank slate.
Decent option for those looking to pull off either a vintage feel or the rustic chic trend. The historical buildings add a lot of character, especially if you were to use the church for your wedding ceremony. The venue is mostly dirt, with grass only at the arbor ceremony site and the lawn of the Bennett House Ranch.
It’s a great and very affordable venue for a wedding with less than 100 guests. Marketing materials say that they can support up to 150 guests, but having just hosted a wedding for 86 guests and arranging my tables in a space efficient manner, I really wouldn’t recommend it for over about 100. They presumably arrive at the 150 headcount because the canopy in the back houses 15 picnic tables in three rows, end-​to-​end, which presumably can seat a crowded 10 people each). The church, if used for a ceremony site, supposedly has a capacity of 75. The arbor ceremony site should house at least 100… and happily, the venue provides and sets up these chairs.
My favorite part was that the rangers were so easy-​going and nice, without any overly restrictive rules… While the Newland Barn told me that I couldn’t have my tacos or BBQ because grilling constituted an open flame, Heritage Hill told me no problem, they do it all the time. The ranger said I could roll up a food truck in the back of the park, or park an In N Out truck right in front of the park entrance if I wanted. Very easy to work with. The worst part of this park as a venue is actually having to register for a permit through the OC Parks permitting office… but that’s not part of this review, so on that point I digress.
Beware also that on some days, depending on the wind, you may get a bit of the smell from the horses in the back… I guess it adds to the whole Mexican rancho atmosphere.
People who have weddings here typically throw more casual, backyard-​wedding type weddings… one of the weddings that I peeped in at, however, had a DJ and lamps and string lighting over the reception tables, and it seemed to stress out the park rangers a bit because it was just about the fanciest wedding to be held here. Many weddings opt to use the picnic tables and canopy already on-​site for a reception with a more casual feel. For a slightly more sophisticated feel, you can rent tables and chairs and set up on the lawn of the Harvey Bennett House instead.
A big selling point for us was that you can request that the ranger open up the schoolhouse for you for photos on the day of your wedding… I love the schoolhouse, and so we were very happy to have this opportunity!
I grew up here and so this park has a bit of a nostalgia factor for me. I’ve been told that my older brothers’ boy scout troop helped build the oven things next to the Serrano Adobe… that had to have been a long time ago. I also have fond memories taking a field trip here in elementary school and visiting the historic one-​room schoolhouse, wearing bonnets and equipped with slates and chalk — the park still continues to run the same program for local schoolchildren today, as well as a few other year-​round activity days for the locals.

I went here last week after meaning to come and check out the area. Let me start off by saying our docent was AWESOME! Full of information and tidbits that really made the trip worthwhile. I love the authenticity of everything here from the ranch house, to the episcopal church, to the old school. These things were not originally on the land, they were moved from other areas but they did some touch-​ups on the inside so you could see what it would be like if you were a student going to school (up to 8^th grade), a mom at home cooking (the stove was a mere $ 3…when you’re making .13 cents an hour though… it’s a lot of money back then). My favorite part was the adobe house because the inside was SOOO much cooler inside than the hot sun blaring down at us. It’s located at the back of the Ralph’s shopping plaza, which is a pretty odd location, but it’s easy to find. Just look for the sign on the right hand side and park!
This place is closed Mon/​Tue

I adore Heritage Hill Historical Park.
Throughout the years that my family has lived in Lake Forest we have all experienced different aspects of the park (from field trips to weddings!) and each has its own special meaning.
There are 5 buildings: a school house, a chapel, two ranch homes and a barn.
My brother was married in the Chapel a few years ago… such a sweet, intimate setting for a wedding! I would highly recommend it if your guest list is 50 or less and you are going for a vintage, intimate feel.
My aunt was married under the gazebo in the grassy area a few years after that… another beautiful and intimate location for an out door wedding. Also, it was very affordable and they let you use the ranch home to get ready in!
The 10 year old me loved it as a field trip in 4^th grade filled with old fashioned costumes, lessons and games in the quaint school house. We got to play dress up, sit in the old school desks, practice our cursive with chalk and pretend we were living in Orange County 100 years ago. It was one of my favorite field trips in elementary school.
Finally, for the past 10 years or so we have made the candle lit Christmas weekend a Christmas tradition and it is such a fabulous asset to the Christmas celebrations in our family. Over the course of two days, Heritage Hill decorates all the buildings in Christmas lights, boughs of holly, green garlands and even mistletoe!
Admission is $ 6 and proceeds go to the restoration of the park — a very worthy cause! There is so much to see and do: look at the lights, listen to stories in the school house, enjoy the musical talents of carolers, guitarists, harpist and even a brass quartet throughout the park. There are cookies, cider, hot cocoa and pizza from the local pizzeria for sale AND they have started serving FREE roasted chestnuts roasted right there in front of you in the historical clay oven! How cool is that?!
And the coup de gras? SANTA SHOWS UP! He sits in either the barn house or the gazebo and will take as many toy requests and photos as you’d like!
Obviously, I love this place for many reasons but my favorite is by far the Candle-​lit Christmas celebration. Its timeless, humbling and definitely worth a visit!

I havent been here in a while but I remember it being a great little place to walk around, and lots of fun. A lot more than I expected before I started walking around. We went with a few toddlers, and had a lot of fun — lots of fun photo opps too :)

A very cute and easy to navigate historic park. Guided tours are available, but it’s also easy to just walk around and enjoy it on your own. There are old buildings, artifacts, and landscaping with informative signs. There’s even a cross section of a giant oak tree.
Educational and fun for adults and children!
Pictures speak louder than words, so take a look at the images here to get an idea of what this park has to offer!
Closed Mon/​Tue

Heritage Hill is a jewel! it is such a fun place to go! The docents are amazing and extremely knowledgable as well as friendly and passionate about their park! It is a great place to take kids especially during one of their many special events! Go check it out you won’t be disapointed!

The ranger’s are great. Suzi is such a nice docent. Enjoyed her tour and she really loves her work. The facility is kept up and I like how they involve the school kids in their educational program.

Before Lake Forest turned into a typical suburb, it was a proto OC cow town. No bull! Ranchers used to raise cattle here and drive it toward the ocean to sell hides. Four historic buildings in this park give a glimpse of this old world: Jose Serrano’s original adobe house; the one-​room El Toro Grammar School; St. George’s Episcopal Church; and the Bennett Ranch House, all built between 1863 and 1908. It even smells kinda farmy here, thanks to the horse boarding facilities downhill.
You won’t go wow just looking at the small and humble buildings, but you can learn a lot if you take one of the free docent-​led tours offered on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 2 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The tour I was on lasted about 1 hr 40 min.
Heritage Hill’s entrance is not easy to find from the main street. From Lake Forest Drive, turn into the shopping center with Bagels & Brew near Trabuco Road. The park entrance is at one corner of the shopping center’s parking lot.