Title supplied by cataloger. Hope Ranch is an unincorporated suburb of Santa Barbara, located in Santa Barbara County. It was so named after Thomas Hope, an Irishman who became one of the most successful ranchers on the South Coast. Hope began to raise sheep in the mid-1800s, and his flocks would eventually number in the thousands. His investment in sheep was an excellent one, as the Civil War greatly drove up the demand for wool cloth. In January 1876, Hope died of stomach cancer; at the time of his death, he was estimated to be worth a half-million dollars. In 1887 his widow sold the ranch for $255,000. Hope Ranch occupies a hilly area immediately adjacent to the coast, and is one of the wealthiest areas in California, with median home prices at $2.61 million dollars (in 2006). As of the 2000 census, the area had an approximate population of 2,200. Four women and a man, all unidentified, sit on a rail located along the Hope Ranch coastline. The highest elevation of this hilly area is 691 feet. A portion of the beach is private and can only be accessed by residents, but the beach itself is accessible from public beaches on either side.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
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