Name change to honor first black settler

FREE MAN—Nick Noxon (left), Paul and Leah Culberg and several furry friends sit in front of Ballard Mountain, named after John Ballard, a former slave who was said to be the first African American to settle in the Santa Monica Mountains. Negrohead Mountain may have been an improvement over the original epithet of "Niggerhead Mountain" that had been given to a 2,000foot volcanic peak in Lobo Canyon 120 years ago, but a more fitting, nonracist name is now being considered due the efforts of several concerned residents.

On Feb. 24, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors discussed giving the mountain a less derogatory name. Following approval by the U.S. Geological Survey, Negrohead Mountain will officially become Ballard Mountain in honor of John Ballard, a former slave and reportedly the first black man to settle in the Santa Monica Mountains in 1888.

People living in the area who know about Negrohead Mountain were outraged that its racist name survived as long as it did.

"I had almost given up," said Radha Reyes, an African American musician from Triunfo Canyon who tried to make headway on the name change several years ago, but failed. She learned about the mountain's ugly name while looking through historic papers at the old Agoura library on Roadside Drive. A hand-typed, onion skin document from the Las Virgenes Preservation Society included the mountain's first official name—"Niggerhead Mountain."

John Ballard "Oh, my God—there were pages of this," Reyes said. "I called up the person whose name was on the document and the little old lady just about fell off the phone. She couldn't believe it was there."

Reyes credits Paul and Leah Culberg, two residents whose home sits in front of the mountain, with convincing the county to change the peak's name. The Culbergs teamed up with Nick Noxon, a retired National Geographic television producer, whose property in Seminole Springs is part of Ballard's original homestead.

The residents were inspired to tackle the issue after reading the book, "Heads and Tails . . . and Odds and Ends" by J.H. Russell. Russell was the son of a prominent landowner who remembered visiting Ballard's ramshackle cabin as a boy.

Russell's book characterized Ballard as a settler who was an integral part of the community. He was a well-liked blacksmith and a teamster who delivered firewood and charcoal door-to-door in Los Angeles.

"They seemed like they were just really good people," Paul Culberg said.

Ballard's goodness was characterized in a metropolitan newspaper. As the story goes, Ballard tried to save a man who, after stepping on a rusty nail, contracted lockjaw. Ballard used his wagon to carry the sick man on a full day's journey to the hospital, but the man died before they arrived.

Paul Culberg also remembers a sad story about Ballard and the loss of his wife. "He was in L.A. and read about his wife's death in the paper," he said. "It took him two days to get back home."

A deeply religious man, Ballard helped start the local African Methodist Episcopal Church. He purchased property in L.A. County for $1,860 and recorded a deed in 1869.

Patty Colman, a history professor at Moorpark College and editor of the Journal of Ventura County History, documented Ballard's history and helped with the name change effort.

In 1888, Ballard and his family "homesteaded in the Seminole Hot Springs area and became one of the first African American families to settle in the mountains," Colman wrote.

Of the 488 individuals listed on census records for the old Calabasas Township, only one family was black, according to Colman.

"I certainly did not start out to research a black homesteading family," Colman told The Acorn. "I was doing a general survey of the settlers of the Santa Monica Mountains. You can imagine my surprise when I came across a family in the 1900 census named Ballard who, in the race column, were listed with 'N.' Just seeing that letter was a shock. One simple letter, but it carried so much meaning."

Ballard did not apply for a formal homestead but instead squatted on the land, as was customary with many of the mountain settlers. By the turn of the century, however, Ballard had formalized a land deal and received his official homestead patent. His property included a 16-by-16-foot "lumber house" with a kitchen of equal size. The property also included a barn, chicken house, drinking well and fencing.

Colman also found evidence that Ballard wanted to be buried on his hill when he died—but that was not to be. On Aug. 19, 1905, Ballard died in the county hospital at the age of 75.

"He died practically a pauper," Colman said. "That breaks my heart. I know it sounds silly, but this recognition that he is receiving now in some way makes up for that."

Noxon and the Culbergs hope to find Ballard's descendents so they can invite them to the formal dedication of Ballard Mountain. Recently uncovered history has revealed that some of his descendents may have settled in the Camarillo area.

"We can never really know what it would have been like to be black in that era, but even so, what he accomplished shows enormous strength and resiliency," Colman said. "That's the story. That's the history that we should be teaching our children."

While Reyes is happy with the name change, she wishes it would have happened sooner.

"I thought it was pretty horrible—to have that name and everybody pretend that it wasn't so," she said.