Some homes tell their stories through grand staircases. Buena Park’s Bacon House has a more practical detail: newspapers applied to the inside walls to help seal out drafts.
The Buena Park Library District describes the city’s oldest surviving structure as a rare example of single-wall construction. Inside, a combined living and cooking space, upstairs quarters for adults and a lean-to for children offer a close look at how a family made a small home work. The building preserves accounts of its last occupants, the Bacon family.
Nearby, the Whitaker-Jaynes House presents another household’s world, furnished to reflect rural Victorian life. Among its details are a square piano shipped around Cape Horn and family heirlooms donated by Walter and Cordelia Knott. Together, the two houses give Buena Park’s past a domestic scale that is easy to miss on a busy drive along Beach Boulevard.
Visit Buena Park lists the Historic District at 6631 Beach Boulevard and says free building tours can be scheduled at 714-562-3570. Call to confirm access. The library also links a virtual tour, making this an easy little history detour from home.
