March 28, 2026

Mrs. Orcutt's Desert Home: A Journey into the Heart of Newberry Springs’ History

Welcome to another episode of the Outdoor Adventure Series! In today’s show, we're immersed in the fascinating history of Newberry Springs with community leaders from the Newberry Springs Economic Development Association - Historical Committee, Paul Deel, and Brian Fisher. Together, they share the legacy of Margaret Orcutt and her unique adobe home—complete with handmade blocks, historical gun ports, and even remnants of her greenhouse where she famously grew orchids. Paul shares personal sto...

Paul shares personal stories about Margaret and the origins of her home, uncovering its dream as a sanctuary for unwed mothers and a community gathering space. Meanwhile, Brian takes us behind the scenes with the Newberry Springs Historical Committee, revealing the painstaking process of organizing Margaret's archives and bringing her true story to light.

Whether you’re a history buff, outdoor enthusiast, or just curious about the colorful characters that built this desert community, this episode offers a heartfelt look at preserving local heritage and the power of community. So settle in, and let’s journey together through the stories that make Newberry Springs a remarkable stop on Route 66.

DISCUSSION

00:00 Margaret Orcutt's Desert Vision

04:16 "Committee's Historical Cataloging Effort"

09:19 "Route 66 Centennial Adventure"

10:03 "Follow, Listen, Explore, Enjoy"

LEARN MORE

To learn more about NSEDA, visit their website at https://www.nseda.net/.

To learn about Newberry Springs, CA, the Route 66 Big Birthday Bash, the Pistachio Festival, and much more, visit the Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce at https://newberryspringschamber.com/ or on these social sites:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewberrySpringsChamber
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nbsp_chamberofcommerce/

Car & Driver: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15385694/mrs-orcutts-driveway-204-mph-on-a-double-nickel-road-page-1

NEXT STEPS

Visit us at https://outdooradventureseries.com to like, comment, and share our episodes.

KEYWORDS

Brian Fisher, Mrs. Orcutt's Homestead, Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway, NSEDA, Newberry Springs Chamber of Commerce, Route 66 Centennial, Outdoor Adventure Series, Podcast Interview

#BrianFisher #MrsOrcuttsHomestead #MrsOrcuttsDriveway #NSEDA #NewberrySpringsChamberofCommerce #Route66Centennial #OutdoorAdventureSeries #PodcastInterview

My Favorite Podcast Tools:

Production by Descript
Hosting Buzzsprout
Show Notes by Castmagic
Website powered by Podpage
Be a Podcast Guest by PodMatch
Banner Customization by Nano Banana & Canva

WEBVTT

00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:10.240
This is Howard Fox, and I am back here still in Newberry Springs.

00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:11.599
Beautiful Saturday morning.

00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:13.839
We were just catching up with Brian Fisher.

00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:22.800
He's part of the historical committee here in Newbury Springs, which is a part of the Newbury Springs Economic Development Association.

00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:25.839
And he's joined us here right now.

00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:27.039
Paul Deal.

00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.440
Paul, you don't have anything to do on a Saturday morning, do you?

00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:30.000
Of course not.

00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:30.719
I'm retired.

00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:31.359
Of course not.

00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:33.359
Everybody's retired here.

00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:35.039
I love that word retired.

00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:37.119
I don't think that's ever going to happen for me.

00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:39.759
In any case, these two gentlemen are back here.

00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:43.840
We're in a very historical piece of property here.

00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:47.119
We learned a little bit about it with Brian just a few minutes ago.

00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:50.719
Let me just say it's a fixer-upper, it needs a little work.

00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.159
But there's a lot of history.

00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:55.200
We are literally standing in the middle of a history.

00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:59.119
So, Paul and Brian, welcome back to the Outdoor Adventure Series.

00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:01.520
Paul, where are we, by the way?

00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.840
Tell us, tell us, our listeners, where are we?

00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:08.959
Well, we're standing in the conservatory of Margaret Orcutt's Adobe House.

00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:16.400
It was built around her little travel trailer that she pulled behind her car when she came out here and originally and lived in.

00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:35.040
The local people built the frame house, covered it in tar paper, and so she lived in this tar paper shack, as they were called, and she handmade the adobe blocks and covered the entire thing in Adobe that made it very comfortable and more comfortable in the winter and in the s summer heat.

00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:36.719
She was a unique lady.

00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:48.640
You can see behind me a gun port that she put, and on this side was another gun port, one behind us that was in the on the south wall.

00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:54.319
And she had visions that this would one day be a home for unwed mothers.

00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:54.959
Oh, really?

00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:55.200
Okay.

00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:02.719
And she had each plant that was here had a little plaque, little brass plaque that it was in memory of one of her friends.

00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:03.040
Okay.

00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:06.159
And of course, there those brass plaques are all gone.

00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:09.520
She had a greenhouse that she raised orchids.

00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:17.360
And the orchids were apparently very difficult to grow, but she had a lot of people come out just to see her orchids.

00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:18.479
Ms.

00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:19.599
Orchot's orchids.

00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:20.000
Yes.

00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:21.439
So very good.

00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:34.400
And she had a there was a a walk around and uh different places she had drinking fountains, and when she had people coming out, she would fill the pit underneath the drinking fountain with crushed ice so that they could drink cold water.

00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:35.360
Oh, very nice.

00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:35.919
Very nice.

00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:40.400
And she had a a a lake dug all the way around this place.

00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:42.800
How she filled it with water, I do not know.

00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:44.319
But you're a plumber.

00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:50.240
By the way, that uh I would imagine maybe that was a helpful part of the getting the water here.

00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:53.840
But I have to ask, did you were you involved with the plumbing of this this home?

00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:56.800
I did I did plumbing repairs here from time to time.

00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:57.280
Okay.

00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:01.360
And one time she fell coming out of her little trailer.

00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:04.240
That was she used that for her bedroom and she couldn't get up.

00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:05.520
And so what do you do?

00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:09.599
You when you're in the at the live at the end of the world, you call the plumber.

00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:14.879
So I I came out and I called to her from outside the house before I tried to come in.

00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:15.360
Right.

00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:17.520
Make sure that she didn't have her gun on me.

00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:19.840
She was a she was a competitive marksman.

00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:20.319
Okay.

00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:32.240
And she said to come in and and she was just you know crumpled up down below the steps and covered a little trailer, and I lifted her up and we visited for a couple of minutes and she was she was well.

00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:32.719
Okay.

00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.240
And uh she was uh very involved in Newberry Springs.

00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:41.520
There was a uh move to change the name Newberry to Newberry Springs.

00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.960
The reason given was that we wouldn't compete with Newberry Park.

00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:50.560
But it was really because Newberry was being advertised at the time as the next Palm Springs.

00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:51.199
Oh god.

00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:57.039
And so in order to make it a little sexier, she was involved in changing the name to Newberry Springs.

00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:57.520
Okay.

00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:02.000
And uh so she was she was very ac very, very unique.

00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:02.319
Okay.

00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:03.120
Very special.

00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:04.080
Very good.

00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:15.680
So Brian, how do you and Paul and and the rest of the committee working together to to really uh uncover the uniqueness of this home and the history here?

00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:23.199
Well, when we first started our committee about three months ago, I was appointed the chairman of the committee.

00:04:23.600 --> 00:05:01.680
And what we did then is we would seek out people that had history of Newberry Springs, and one of the things that I discovered was that Paul here had rescued a large barrel full of paperwork, and that mutual friend of ours, Vicky Paulson, had taken that paperwork and organized it into boxes, and she had six uh full-size file boxes full of papers all in folders, probably about well, r around thirty folders per box.

00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:25.680
And so I got a hold of Vicky and I picked up these boxes, brought them home and I'm going through them to catalog them so that there's uh we're indexing them so that we know where and what is it is in there so that we can use that to create a historical story about Mrs.

00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:35.600
Orcutt and to try to do it as accurate and from the perspective that she left behind rather than what everybody says.

00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:36.079
Okay.

00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.879
Because history gets changed every time you turn around.

00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:39.439
Oh, yeah.

00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:39.839
Yeah.

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:40.319
Yeah.

00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:45.199
And I it's a long, arguous job to do so.

00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:46.639
Good thing you're retired.

00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:48.560
Yeah, it's a good thing I'm retired.

00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:59.279
And anyway, and I'm going through and I'm reading all these letters, I'm reading looking at all these pictures, uh, she's got her tax returns in there, letters to and from companies.

00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:04.959
She didn't hesitate to complain if she had some a problem with something or somebody.

00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:07.120
She could always invite them out here.

00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:08.800
Come on, let's have a conversation.

00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:10.639
I see these got gun holes here.

00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:18.079
Yeah, it was she was she was very involved in her church, and I've just gotten up to the point where her mother passed away.

00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:18.560
Okay.

00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:24.480
And there's like a dozen different sympathy letters and everything concerning that.

00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:25.040
Okay.

00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:25.759
So Okay.

00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:42.079
I'm curious, as you're going through the the the papers, and Paul, you had mentioned this was the vision of a community center or a visitor center, and you mentioned that there was an instrument here up in in the room we're s we're uh standing in right now.

00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:42.959
Yes.

00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:45.839
We're standing in the in the conservatory.

00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:48.959
There was uh a concert grand piano here.

00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:49.839
Who knew?

00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:51.199
She's a talented lady.

00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:53.439
She she was a concert celloist.

00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:54.160
Wow.

00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:56.160
Cello, that's the harp, isn't it?

00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:58.240
No, she's a harpist.

00:06:58.319 --> 00:06:59.199
Where do I get cello from?

00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:01.040
She's a string instrument.

00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:02.879
Yes, uh harpist.

00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.240
And uh she among among her many accomplishments.

00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:06.800
Okay.

00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:07.120
Yeah.

00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:08.240
Very nice.

00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:14.879
I'm curious, I know Brian, you mentioned that there are a lot of papers, very few photos.

00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:28.480
Have you uh been able to find any photographs of this building when it was par actual functioning conservatory and somebody sitting at the at the grand piano or not to my knowledge, no.

00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:30.160
That would be pretty cool, I think.

00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:34.800
Yeah, I I've got a long ways to go through these file cases, obviously.

00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:46.399
And most of the pictures that I've come across there are of people that are really not related to the area, friends, because she did come from the Midwest.

00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:46.959
Right.

00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:50.160
And had quite a few contacts and lived there.

00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.639
Her mother came was living there for quite a long time.

00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:53.120
Okay.

00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.040
She moved to the Los Angeles area and she was there for a while.

00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.439
I don't know exactly the dates on those.

00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:07.040
And then she came here to Newberry, and which is where I'm picking up her life at this point.

00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:07.680
Okay.

00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:08.959
Very good, very good.

00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:19.279
Well, I appreciate you gentlemen taking time out of your Saturdays to join me, join our listeners, and share with them on the Outdoor Adventure Series a little history of Mrs.

00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:26.639
Orcutt and her wonderful home and all the little intricate pieces of her life and history here.

00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:45.279
And it's it's wonderful to kind of stay to hear some of that story and also know historically that there is a committee, an organization, hopefully in the future, that really is going to be attracting visitors here to learn more about the this wonderful area and just you know what it what it has to offer.

00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:46.080
So thank you both.

00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:47.200
Good to have you, Gary.

00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:48.000
Good to have you.

00:08:48.080 --> 00:09:00.480
Well, one of our goals with the Historical Committee is to eventually establish a visitor center and a historical society where we could house and make this stuff available for people to see.

00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:02.720
So that's so you're not going to fix up this house.

00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:06.480
Uh no, I don't think you could legally do so anymore.

00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:07.279
Okay.

00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:13.039
There are we're gonna have some photos in our show notes, but there there's there's some interesting aspects of of this house right now.

00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:15.840
But I love those gum ports, so I think that's pretty cool.

00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:17.519
But again, gentlemen, thank you so much.

00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:18.720
Oh, thank you very much.

00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:19.120
Thank you.

00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:23.440
All right, folks, I hope you enjoyed today's episode of the outdoor adventure series.

00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:29.840
Again, we are spending the weekend here in Newberry Springs, part of our centennial celebration of Route 66.

00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:39.279
And yesterday, again today, just meeting, getting reacquainted with some wonderful residents here who are so passionate about this area.

00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:48.720
Listen, we're gonna have all the backlinks to the societies, the the historical society committees and CEDA.

00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:55.840
I'm getting too used to saying this acronym now, but the Chamber of Commerce, we'll have those backlinks and some photos in our show notes.

00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.679
You'll find this episode on our website, outdooradventureseries.com.

00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.960
The video of this episode will be up on our YouTube channel.

00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:16.240
We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, and of course, you can listen to this episode as you're driving down the mother road towards Newberry Springs, where you should be ensuring that you make a stop or uh and just explore it for a couple days if you can.

00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.759
You can listen to this podcast episode wherever you get your podcast from.

00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:24.000
Okay, folks, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, go out there and have a fantastic day.

00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:24.960
Take care.

Mrs. Orcutt's Desert Home: A Journey into the Heart of Newberry Springs’ History

Listen On

Recent Episodes

Accessibility Episodes

Birding Episodes

Biking Episodes

Chamber of Commerce Episodes

Community Episodes

Conservation Episodes

Destination Marketing Episodes

Fishing & Angling Episodes

Browse episodes by category