Ramona author to share updated version of San Vicente and Barona history

Ramona author and historian Chuck LeMenager will discuss his recently updated “Off the Main Road, Revisited” when Ramona Pioneer Historical Society kicks off its 2013-14 season at a potluck dinner Oct. 15.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Barnett Barn on the grounds of the Guy B. Woodward Museum, 645 Main St.

The public is invited. Those planning to attend are asked to bring a main dish, salad or dessert to serve eight.

LeManager has had a varied career. He was mayor of Santa Rosa, Calif., an executive with the Fluor Corporation, and California director of housing and community development under Governor Ronald Reagan. Locally he has served on the Ramona Municipal Water District Board and the board of directors for the San Diego Country Estates Association.

In 1970, LeMenager came to Ramona to help Ray Watt develop San Diego Country Estates. He like the area, so he stayed.

His newest book updates his earlier version. Other books LeMenager has written include “Ramona & Roundabout,” “Julian City and Cuyamaca Country” and “Flying after Fifty.”

The original edition of “Off the Main Road” came out in 1983 and earned an Institute of History Award from the San Diego Historical Society. In the new version, released in June, LeMenager included all that was in the first book in addition to 80 more pages and three decades of events that have occurred since.

The book traces the history of San Vicente and Barona valleys from pre-historic times through development of SDCE, Rancho San Vicente, Creekside and Barona Mesa. The Barona Indians’ heritage is covered from their Capitan Grande roots through their new era and affluence on the reservation that resulted from legalized gaming. Details of the devastating Cedar and Witch Creek fires of 2003 and 2007 are told.

He will autograph copies of his latest book after the potluck. For more information, call 760-789-7644.