Bardsdale
In 1865, Pennsylvania native Thomas R. Bard arrived in Ventura County and amassed a large amount of land, including part of the Rancho Sespe land grant. In 1887, he sold 1500 acres of land to real estate developer Royce G. Surdam, who earlier established Nordhoff (Ojai). Surdam promptly laid out a new townsite which he called Bardsdale, with three and ten acre lots which he promoted as "the Eden of Southern California". Families settled, initially growing grains, but these eventually gave way to walnuts, apricots, and citrus. While never particularly large, Bardsdale once had its own post office and school, but as nearby Fillmore continued to grow most services eventually moved there. Today Bardsdale is still a rural agricultural hamlet on the outskirts of Fillmore, with large lots and homes dating to the original townsite days. At the center of 'town', the Carpenter Gothic landmark Methodist Episcopal church dominates the landscape of fields and orchards.
