The son of the founder of Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch along Route 66 near Oro Grande, California, is “miserable” and struggling to maintain the site in the wake of his father’s death.
Elliott Long became the caretaker of the Route 66 landmark after its creator and his father, Elmer Long, died of cancer at age 72 in 2019.
Elliott told SFGate.com that visiting the Bottle Tree Ranch ever since is “a miserable experience of reliving everything you’ve ever lost.”
Nearly overnight, Elliott found himself in charge of a quirky roadside attraction 120 miles away from his home in Orange County, and with a baby at home.
It’s been a struggle to manage the ranch since then.
“Since his passing, We’ve done what we can to care for the Ranch. Some progress has been made—we’ve made small improvements, cleaned up areas in need, and started sharing his story with new audiences online. But I won’t sugarcoat it: the Ranch is suffering. Time, weather, and neglect and the basic cost of running a property for free are catching up with it faster than we can keep up,” Elliott wrote in a recent post on the ranch’s website. […]
“I’ve had plenty of time to heal, and it still hurts every second of every day when I’m up there,” said Elliott, who now visits about once a week.
Ravaged by time and weather, Long estimates Bottle Tree Ranch needs about “150 hours” of maintenance that’s been deferred.
Elliott “never, ever” wants to charge for entry, but is thinking about offering merchandise or art for sale to help make the property more self-sustaining, which in turn might make it easier to hand off to someone else who could keep it running.
“I’ve never wanted to be the bottle tree man; that’s my dad,” Elliott said. “I just want to be a tourist and go visit once in a while and marvel at it like the rest of the world.”
It sounds like Elliott Long desperately needs a few dozen volunteers to help over a day or two to reduce his maintenance backlog.
Elmer Long said he started his roadside park around the year 2000 after he had collected thousands of bottles and other junk discarded in the desert.
Bottle Tree Ranch eventually became known worldwide and even became a backdrop in a horror film. He collected
Long almost certainly took inspiration from Miles Mahan’s Half Acre, also known as Hulaville, which had a few bottle trees with other quirky stuff in nearby Hesperia, California.
Mahan’s Half Acre was bulldozed shortly after Mahan died in 1997, although a few artifacts remain on display at the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville.
(Image of Bottle Tree Ranch near Oro Grande, California, by Peter Lawther via Flickr)