The Land Before the Course

Centuries before the Robin Hood films were shot on the acreage that Sherwood Country Club occupies today, the property was the site of earlier bows and arrow. The Chumash Indians lived here as hunters and gatherers and thrived along the area’s hills, canyons, and streams. Within the expanse of what is now Lake Sherwood, artifacts from two of seventeen Chumash sites have been uncovered and are on display in the golf clubhouse. Starting in the 1500’s, Spanish conquistadors claimed the land, and over the next three centuries the Chumash population was decimated. By the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the local valleys had been transformed into a combination of dairy farms, chicken ranches, and apricot orchards.

Lake Sherwood, originally Potrero Lake, is the oldest artificial lake in California, and its size is significant – 165 acres. Created in 1904 when the Alturas Dam was built, its name was changed to Lake Sherwood when the surrounding areas used for the 1923 Robin Hood movie became known as “Sherwood Forest” and “Maid Marian Park”.