About 22 years ago, in my role as Environmental Project Manager on the
Fairbanks Ranch Specific Plan near Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego County,
California, I field inspected the 2,000 acre ranch and found numerous small
fenced-in areas. These were usually about 8-feet on a side and the fences
were decomposing hogwire with an ornamental top. There were also some rotting
picket fences too. Finally, some had dead fruit trees in the center. I
puzzeled over these for quite some time and eventually required the developer
to retain professional historians and conduct an archaeology survey. In
addition to about 50 prehistoric sites, they mapped about 10 of these fenced
features. Some also had geraniums, nasturtiums, whorehound, and bulb plants.
The historian found the property had been owned by the late Douglas
Fairbanks, Jr. (which we already knew) and that he owned when he was hot with
Mary Pickford. At the time of the historic research, she was still alive and
living in the area. Oral history with Pickford revealed she and Fairbanks had
wild and passionate sexual trysts out on the ranch. Fairbanks memorialized
the most memorable episodes with fruit trees and flowers, often surrounded by
little fences. How about this for archaeobotany?

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.