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San Diego County California State Historical Landmarks
of historical importance in California are currently designated as significant
resources in three state registration programs: State Historical Landmarks,
Points of Historical Interest, and the California Register of Historic Places.
Below is a list of the State Historical Landmarks for San Diego County.
This data is provided by the Office of Historic Preservation - California
Department of Parks and Recreation and is also available in the California
Historical Landmarks Book.
NO. 1020
LEO CARRILLO RANCH
(RANCHO DE LOS KIOTES) - Between 1937 and 1940, these adobe and wood buildings
were built by actor Leo Carrillo as a retreat, working ranch, and tribute to old
California culture and architecture. The Leo Carrillo Ranch, with its Flying
'LC' brand, originally covered
2,538 acres and was frequented by Carrillo and his friends until 1960. Leo
Carrillo was a strong, positive, and well-loved role model who sought to
celebrate California's early Spanish heritage, through a life of good deeds and
charitable causes.
Location: 4758 Palomar Airport Rd, Carlsbad
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: CAMPO
NO. 242
MISSION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA - On Sunday, July 16, 1769, Fathers Junípero Serra, Juan Vizcaino, and
Fernando Parrón raised and blessed a cross to establish Alta California's first
mission. Relocated from Presidio Hill to this site in August 1774, the mission
was the Mother of those founded in California by the Franciscan Order. The
present buildings, first completed in 1813, were rebuilt in stages from 1915 to
1931 after many years of deterioration. They
have been in use as a parish church since February 1941.
Location: Mission San Diego de Alcala, 10818 San Diego Mission Rd, San
Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 243 ASISTENCIA DE SAN
ANTONIO DE PALA - Notable for its bell tower, or campanile, the chapel vas built
by Father Peyrí in 1816. Almost destroyed by earthquake and storm, it was later
restored.
Location: Mission on Pala Mission Rd, plaque on State Hwy 76 (P.M.
23.6), Pala
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: PALA
NO. 244 DERBY DIKE - Until
1853 the erratic San Diego River dumped tons of debris into the harbor or poured
into False Bay, now Mission Bay. At times it threatened to destroy Old Town San
Diego. Lieutenant George Horatio Derby, U.S. Topographical Corps, built a dike
that diverted the waters into False Bay. This was the first effort to tame the
river, and one of the first U.S. Government projects in California. The river
was not fully harnessed until the 1950s.
Location: Presidio Park, SE corner of Taylor St and Presidio Dr, San
Diego
NO. 304 VALLECITO STAGE
DEPOT (STATION) - A reconstruction (1934) of Vallecito Stage Station built in
1852 at the edge of the Great Colorado Desert. It was an important stop on the
first official transcontinental route, serving the San Diego-San Antonio
('Jackass') mail line (1857-1859), the Butterfield Overland Stage Line, and the
southern emigrant caravans.
Location: Vallecito Stage Station County Park, on County Rd S2 (P.M.
34.7), 3.7 mi NW of Agua Caliente Springs
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: AQUA CALIENTE SPRING
NO. 311 WARNER'S RANCH - In
1844, Governor Manuel Micheltorena granted 44,322 acres to Juan José Warner, who
built this house. General Kearny
passed here in 1846, and the Mormon Battalion in 1847. The first Butterfield
Stage stopped at this ranch on October 6, 1858, on its 2,600-mile, 24-day trip
from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco, the southern overland route into
California.
Location: On County Hwy S2 (P.M. 0.7), 0.7 mi E of junc of State Hwy
79, 4 mi SE of Warner Springs
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: WARNER SPRINGS
NO. 369 CHAPEL OF SANTA
YSABEL (SITE OF) - The first mass at a site nearby was celebrated September 20,
1818 by Father Fernando Martin. By 1822, Santa Ysabel was an asistencia, or
mission outpost, that had a chapel, a granary, several houses, a cemetery, and
about 450 neophytes. After secularization in the 1830s, priestly visits became
rare. When the roof caved in, after 1850, ramadas were erected against one wall
and services were held there. Tradition asserts
this site has been used for religious services since 1818. The present
chapel was constructed in 1924.
Location: On State Hwy 79 (P.M. 21.8), 1.4 mi N of Santa Ysabel
NO. 411 CAMPO STONE STORE -
The pioneer Gaskill brothers of 1868 built a frame store which was raided on
December 4, 1875 by border bandits. This fort-like replacement of summer 1855
was bought in 1896 by E. T. Aiken, resold to Klauber Wangenheim, 1889, and
operated by Henry Marcus Johnson as the Mountain Commercial Company until 1925.
In disrepair, it was bought after 1938 by E. M. Statler, given to San Diego
County, and restored, 1943-48, as a
museum.
Location: State Hwy 94 (P.M. 50.6), at Campo Cr, Campo
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: CAMPO
NO. 412 JULIAN - Following
the discovery of gold nearby during the winter of 1869-70, this valley became
the commercial and social center of a thriving mining district. Ex-Confederate
soldier Drury D. Batley laid out the town on his farmland and named it for his
cousin and fellow native of Georgia, Michael S. Julian. By 1906 most mines were
unprofitable. Since then the area has become more famous for the variety and
quality of its apple crop.
Location: Private plaque: Julian Memorial Park, Washington and Fourth
Sts, Julian State plaque: In front of Town Hall, Julian
NO. 425 LA CAÑADA DE LOS
COCHES RANCHO - Commemorating Cañada de Los Coches Rancho, smallest Mexican
grant in California, granted in 1843 to Apolinaria Lorenzana by Governor Manuel
Micheltorena. This is the site of the old grist mill.
Location: 13468 Old Hwy 80, Lakeside
NO. 452 MULE HILL - On
December 7, 1846, the day following the Battle of San Pasqual fought five miles
east of here, General Stephen Kearny's command, on its way to San Diego, was
again attacked by Californians. The Americans counterattacked and occupied this
hill until December 11. Short of food, they ate mule meat and named the place
'Mule Hill.'
Location: On Pomerado Rd, 0.1 mi E of I-15, 5 mi SE of Escondido
NO. 472 BOX CANYON - The old
road, known as the Sonora, Colorado River, or Southern Emigrant Trail and later
as the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, traversed Box Canyon just east of here.
On January 19, 1847, the Mormon Battalion under the command of Lieutenant
Colonel Philip St. G. Cooke, using hand tools, hewed a passage through the rocky
walls of the narrow gorge for their wagons and opened the first road into
Southern California.
Location: On County Rd S2 (P.M. 25.7), 8.6 mi S of State Hwy 78,
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
NO. 482 CAMP WRIGHT - Camp
Wright, named for Brigadier General George Wright, United States Army, who
commanded the Pacific Department and California District from 1861 to 1865, was
first established October 18, 1861 on Warner's Ranch to guard the line of
communication between California and Arizona. The camp was moved to this site by
Major Edwin A. Rigg, First California Volunteers, about November 23, 1861 and
was abandoned December 1866.
Location: State Hwy 79 (P.M. 49.3), Oak Grove
NO. 49
ADOBE CHAPEL OF THE
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION - Originally built as the home of San Diego's John Brown.
In 1850, the house was converted to a church by Don José Aguirre in 1858. Father
Antonio D. Ubach, formerly a missionary among the Indians, was parish priest
here from 1866 to 1907. It is said that he was the model for 'Father Gaspara' in
Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona. In 1937 the WPA rebuilt the adobe chapel close to
its original site.
Location: 3950 Conde St, between Congress St and San Diego Ave, Old
Town, San Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 491 THE EXCHANGE HOTEL -
This tablet marks the site of the Exchange Hotel. Here, on June 29,1851, Masons
met for the first time in San Diego and organized the lodge which became San
Diego Lodge No. 35, F. & A.M., the oldest lodge of Masons in Southern
California.
Location: 2729 San Diego Ave, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
NO. 50
BALLAST POINT WHALING
STATION SITE - Late in 1857, the three Johnson brothers and the twin Packard
brothers came to this site to survey possibilities for a station to 'try out' or
extract whale oil. Their operations began the next year. In 1869 the U.S.
Government acquired the property for Fort Rosecrans and in 1873 whaling
operations at Ballast Point ended.
Location: Base of Ballast Point, S end of Rosecrans St, where historic
markers are on a half circle, U.S. Naval Submarine Base, San Diego
NO. 502 OAK GROVE STAGE
STATION - Oak Grove is one of the few remaining stations on the Butterfield
Overland Mail route, which operated between San Francisco and two eastern
terminals-St. Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee-from September 15, 1858 to
March 2, 1861. During the Civil War the station was used as a hospital for
nearby Camp Wright.
Location: State Hwy 79 (P.M. 49.4), Oak Grove
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: WARNER SPRINGS
NO. 51 OLD POINT LOMA
LIGHTHOUSE - This lighthouse, built in 1854, was one of the first eight
lighthouses on the Pacific Coast. It continued in use until 1891, when the new
Pelican Point Lighthouse began operating. The Point Loma Lighthouse became the
site of the Cabrillo National Monument in 1913. During World War II, the Navy
used it as a signal tower. Today the lighthouse remains the central feature of
the Point Loma Preserve.
Location: Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma, San Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 52
MISSION DAM AND FLUME
- After many attempts dated back to 1774 to provide a reliable source of water
for crops and livestock for Mission San Diego de Alcala, a dam and flume system
was finished between 1813 and 1816 by Indian laborers and Franciscan
Missionaries to divert waters of the San Diego River for a distance of 6 miles.
The aqueduct system continued in existence until 1831 when constant flooding
caused the dam and flume to fall into disrepair.
They were not repaired due to secularization of the missions.
Location: In parking lot on N side of Fr. Junipero Serra Trail in
Mission Trails Regional Park near NE entrance, San Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 523
SAN DIEGO BARRACKS -
New San Diego was established as a quartermaster depot by Captain Nathaniel
Lyon, 2nd U.S. Infantry, in 1850-51 to supply military establishments in
Southern California. The name of the post was changed from New San Diego to San
Diego Barracks by General Orders No. 2,
Military Division of the Pacific, San Francisco, April 5, 1879. San Diego
Barracks continued to operate as a subpost of Fort Rosecrans until abandoned
December
15, 1921.
Location: 700 block of Harbor-Market Sts, San Francisco
NO. 53
CASA DE ESTUDILLO -
Three generations of Don José María Estudillo's family made their home in Casa
de Estudillo. Rich in historical background, the casa is often pointed out,
erroneously, as Ramona's marriage place.
Location: SE corner of San Diego Ave and Mason St, Old Town San Diego
State Historic Park
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 533 SAN PASQUAL
BATTLEFIELD STATE HISTORIC PARK - While marching to the conquest and occupation
of California during the Mexican War, a detachment of 1st U.S. Dragoons under
the command of Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny was met on this site by
native California lancers under the command of General Andrés Pico. In this
battle, fought on December 6, 1846, severe losses were incurred by the American
forces. The native Californians withdrew after Kearny had rallied his men on the
field. Gallant action on the part of both forces characterized the Battle of San
Pasqual, one of the significant actions during the Mexican War of 1846-1848.
Location: San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park, State Hwy 78
(P.M. 25.1) at Old Pasqual Rd, 7 mi SE of Escondido
NO. 538
FIRST PUBLICLY OWNED
SCHOOL BUILDING - The first public schoolhouse in this county, the Mason Street
School-District No. 1, was
erected at this site in 1865, when San Diego County covered an area larger
than three New England states. It was restored by popular subscription in 1955.
Location: 3966 Mason St, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 54 FORT STOCKTON -
Fortified briefly by Carlos Carrillo in 1828, this site became Fort Dupont
(July-November 1846) after American forces took Old Town during the Mexican War.
Retaken and held briefly by the Californios, it fell once more to the Americans,
who renamed it Fort Stockton and used it as campaign headquarters for ending the
Californio revolt in early 1847. The Mormon Battalion stayed here later that
year. The post was abandoned on September 25, 1848.
Location: Top of hill W of Presidio Dr in Presidio Park, Old Town, San
Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 55
FORT ROSECRANS
NATIONAL CEMETERY - A burial ground before 1847, this graveyard became an Army
post cemetery in the 1860s. It is the final resting place for most who fell at
San Pasqual in 1846, and for the USS Bennington victims of 1905. It became Fort
Rosecrans National Cemetery in 1934 and was placed under the Veterans
Administration National Cemetery System in 1973. Over 50,000 who served the U.S.
honorably in war and peace lie here.
Location: Cabrillo Memorial Dr Point Loma, San Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 56 CABRILLO LANDING SITE
- Seeking the mythical Strait of Anián (the Northwest Passage) for Spain, on
September 28, 1542, Iberian navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo brought his three
ships to Ballast Point, the first European landing on the coast of Alta
California.
Location: Base of Ballast Point, S end of Rosecrans St, where historic
markers are on a half circle, U.S. Naval Submarine Base, San Diego
NO. 563 CHARLES KRUG WINERY
- Founded in 1861 by Charles Krug (1825-1892), this is the oldest operating
winery in Napa Valley. The pioneer
winemaker of this world-famous region, Krug made the first commercial wine
in Napa County at Napa in 1858.
Location: Krug Ranch, 2800 Main St, St. Helena
NO. 57 LA PUNTA DE LOS
MUERTOS - Sailors and marines were buried here in 1782, when San Diego Bay was
surveyed and charted by Don Juan Pantoja y Arriaga, pilot, and Don José Továr,
mate, of the royal frigates La Princesa and La Favorita under command of Don
Augustín de Echeverria.
Location: SE corner of Market St and Pacific Hwy (State Hwy 163), San
Diego
NO. 59 SAN DIEGO PRESIDIO
SITE - Soldiers, sailors, Indians, and Franciscan missionaries from New Spain
occupied the land at Presidio Hill on May 17, 1769 as a military outpost. Two
months later, Fr. Junípero Serra established the first San Diego Mission on
Presidio Hill. Officially proclaimed a Spanish Presidio on January 1, 1774, the
fortress was later occupied by a succession of Mexican forces. The Presidio was
abandoned in 1837 after San Diego became a
pueblo.
Location: Next to parking lot across Presidio Dr from Serra Museum,
Presidio Park, Old Town, San Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 60 CASA DE LOPEZ - Built
about 1835 by Juan Francisco Lopez, one of San Diego's early Spanish settlers,
the Casa Larga, or Long House, was among the first substantial houses built in
the Pueblo of San Diego. In 1846 it was the home of Juan Matias Moreno,
secretary to Pío Pico, California's last Mexican governor.
Location: 3890 Twiggs St, Old Town, San Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 616 LAS FLORES
ASISTENCIA - From 1823 to the 1840s, the tile-roofed adobe chapel and hostel at
Las Flores, built by Father Antonio Peyrí, served as the asistencia to Mission
San Luís Rey and provided comfort to travelers on El Camino Real. The adobe
structure and adjacent corral were the site of the April 1838 battle between
Juan Bautista Alvarado and Carlos Antonio Carrillo contesting the provincial
governorship of Alta California.
Location: Camp Pendleton Marine Base, plaque located on hill 1,000 ft
W of Orange Co Boy Scouts Adobe, 0.6 mi SE of Las Pulgas gate, 0.9 mi SW of I-15
(P.M. 62.0) at Las Pulgas Rd, 10 mi S of San Clemente
NO. 62 FORT ROSECRANS -
President Millard Fillmore's executive order of 1852 created a U.S. Preserve on
Point Loma. From 1870 to 1873 the coast artillery corpsmen evicted whalers from
the site in order to begin the military installation. In 1899 it was named for
William S. Rosecrans, Civil War general and California congressman. Major
fortifications were constructed in 1891-1903 and 1941-1943. Transferred to the
U.S. Navy in 1957, it became a submarine support facility.
Location: Base of Ballast Point, S end of Rosecrans St, where historic
markers are on a half circle, U.S. Naval Submarine Base, San Diego
NO. 626 BANCROFT RANCH HOUSE
- Adobe built about 1863 by A. S. Ensworth. Home of Capt. Rufus K. Porter and
family. Curved timbers brought from the Clarissa Andrews, famed coaling hulk
formerly of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. Historian Hubert Howe Bancroft later
owned this estate and here wrote a
part of his monumental History of California.
Location: One block E of Memory and Bancroft Dr, Spring Valley
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA MESA
NO. 63 PLAZA, SAN DIEGO
VIEJO (WASHINGTON SQUARE) - This plaza was established as the center of the
Mexican Pueblo of San Diego which
elected its first ajuntamiento in 1834. On July 29, 1846, at 4 p.m.,
Lieutenant Stephen C. Rowan, U.S.N., from the U.S. Sloop-of-War Cyane, raised
the American flag over the plaza.
Location: Old Town Plaza (Washington Square), Old Town San Diego State
Historic Park
NO. 634 EL VADO - This route
was opened by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza and Father Francisco Garcés in 1774.
Anza's expedition of 1775, a group of 240 soldiers and settlers coming from
Sonora to found San Francisco, encamped near El Vado (The Ford) for three days
and two nights, December 20-22, 1775.
Location: 6 mi NW of Borrego Springs on Borrego Springs Rd (dirt),
Anza -Borrego Desert State Park, ask at Visitor Center
NO. 635 LOS PUERTECITOS -
Juan Bautista de Anza's expedition marched through this little pass December 19,
1775 on its way to strengthen Spanish colonization in California. Many of the
240 members of the party were recruited from Mexico to be the first residents of
San Francisco. They had camped the preceding night somewhere in the wide flats
just east of this monument.
Location: On State Hwy 78 (P.M. 93.8), 1.6 mi E of Ocotillo Wells
NO. 639 PALM SPRINGS - Here
Mexican pioneers coming to California between 1862 and 1866 rested among the
palms, here, too, came mountain men, the Army of the West, the Mormon Battalion,
a boundary commission, '49ers, a railway survey team, the Butterfield Overland
Mail stages, and the California Legion. This was the site of the Butterfield
stage station built in 1858 by Warren F. Hall.
Location: On Vallecito Creek Rd, 1.6 mi E of County Rd S2 (P.M. 43.1),
6.3 mi SE of Agua Caliente Springs, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
NO. 64 OLD LANDING, SITE OF
EL DESEMBARCADERO - El Desembarcadero was one of the first landmarks designated
during the first year of the landmark program. The site was recognized as the
landing place for small boats carrying freight and passengers to Old San Diego.
It was also believed to be the place visited in 1769 by the crews of the San
Antonio and San Carlos in their search for fresh water.
Location: Base of Ballast Point, S end of Rosecrans St, where historic
markers are on a half circle, U.S. Naval Submarine Base, San Diego
NO. 647 BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND
MAIL ROUTE - This pass, Puerta, between the desert and the cooler valleys to the
north, was used by the Mormon Battalion, Kearny's Army of the West, the
Butterfield Overland Mail stages, and emigrants who eventually settled the West.
The eroded scar on the left was the route of the Butterfield stages, 1858-1861.
The road on the right served as a county road until recent years.
Location: Blair Valley, 0.5 mi E of County Rd S2 (P.M. 23.0), 5.8 mi S
of State Hwy 78, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
NO. 65 THE WHALEY HOUSE -
This house, in which the San Diego County Court met for about 20 years, was the
first brick building to be erected in San Diego County. The bricks were made at
Thomas Whaley's own kiln in Old Town in 1856, and the walls were finished with
plaster made from ground seashells. Five generations of the Whaley family have
occupied the old home.
Location: 2482 San Diego Ave, Old Town, San Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 66 CONGRESS HALL SITE -
This building was originally a two-story public house built by George Dewitt
Clinton Washington Robinson about 1867. From this building one of the last
survivors of the pony express rode north.
Location: Vacant lot, S side of 2734 Calhoun St, Old Town San Diego
State Historic Park
NO. 67 SERRA PALM (SITE) -
Site of the palm planted in 1769 by Padre Junípero Serra when he arrived at San
Diego. Here the four divisions of the Portolá Expedition met on July 1, 1769.
The famous 'El Camino Real,' most celebrated trail in California, begins here.
Location: Presidio Park, SE corner of Taylor St and Presidio Dr, San
Diego
NO. 673 SAN GREGORIO -
Somewhere in this narrow valley, perhaps on this very spot, the Anza Expeditions
of 1774 and 1775 made their camps. Water for the 240 people and over 800 head of
stock on the 1775 march was obtained from a series of wells, deeper than the
height of a man, dug into the sandy bottom of the wash.
Location: Borrego Sink, 3 mi SE of Palm Canyon and Peg Leg Rds, Anza
-Borrego Desert State Park, ask at Visitor Center
NO. 68 El CAMPO SANTO - El
Campo Santo once included the adobe chapel on Conde Street, in which were buried
José Antonio Aguirre, María Victoria Domínguez Estudillo and Cave Johnson Couts,
distinguished early San Diegans. Between 1849 and 1897, 477 persons were buried
in these grounds. Antonio Garra was the most eminent of many Native Americans
interred here. A number of graves were relocated after 1874. A street railway
bisected the cemetery in 1894. The
wall around this portion was built in 1933. Restoration has continued to the
present (1994).
Location: On San Diego Ave between Arista and Conde Sts, San Diego,
plaque currently in storage
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 69 SITE OF FORT
GUIJARROS - An outpost of Spain's far-flung empire at its greatest extent, this
fort was completed before 1800 from plans drawn by Alberto de Córdoba in 1795.
Its major action came under Corporal José Velásquez on March 22, 1803, in the
'Battle of San Diego Bay' with the American Brig Lelia Byrd, which was smuggling
sea otter pelts.
Location: Base of Ballast Point, S end of Rosecrans St, where historic
markers are on a half circle, U.S. Naval Submarine Base, San Diego
NO. 70 CASA DE PEDRORENA -
This was the home of Miguel de Pedrorena, who arrived in San Diego Viejo in
1838. Don Miguel was a member of the Constitutional Convention at Monterey in
1849.
Location: 2616 San Diego Ave, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 71 CASA DE MACHADO -
This adobe house, constructed about 1832 by José Manuel Machado, pioneer
leatherjacket soldier of the Spanish Army who arrived at San Diego Presidio
about 1782, is now used as a community church.
Location: Park visitor center Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 711 MONTGOMERY MEMORIAL
- At Otay Mesa, in 1883, John Joseph Montgomery made the first flight in a
heavier-than-air craft 20 years before the Wrights. Montgomery made many more
glider flights before accepting a professorship at Santa Clara College, where he
continued his interest in aviation.
Location: Montgomery-Walker Park, NE corner of Coronado Ave and Beyer
Blvd, South San Diego
NO. 72 CASA DE BANDINI -
This adobe house was constructed about 1827 by José and Juan Bandini. As
headquarters of Commodore Robert F. Stockton
in 1846, it was the place where Kit Carson and Edward Beale delivered their
urgent message of December 9, 1846, calling for reinforcements to be rushed to
the
aid of General Kearny.
Location: On NE corner of Mason and Calhoun Sts, Old Town San Diego
State Historic Park
NO. 73 CASA DE STEWART -
Adobe house constructed by José Manuel Machado in 1830s for his daughter Rosa,
wife of John C. Stewart. Stewart was a shipmate of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. who
describes his 1859 visit to this house in Two Years Before the Mast.
Location: NW corner of Congress and Mason Sts, Old Town San Diego
State Historic Park
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LA JOLLA
NO. 74 CASA DE CARRILLO -
Presidio Comandante Francisco María Ruiz built this house next to his 1808 pear
garden lake in 1821 for his close relative and fellow soldier, Joaquín Carrillo,
and his large family. From this adobe dwelling, in April 1829, daughter Josefa
Carrillo eloped to Chile with Henry Delano Fitch. When Ruiz died in 1839 and
Joaquín soon afterwards, son Ramon Carrillo sold this property to Lorenzo Soto.
It was transferred several times before 1932, deteriorating gradually, until
George Marston and associates restored the house and grounds and deeded them to
the City of San Diego as a golf course.
Location: About 100 ft NE of Juan St on Wallace St, Presidio Golf
Course, San Diego
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: CAMPO
NO. 75 SITE OF CASA DE COTA
- This adobe is said to have been built about 1835 by Juan or Ramon Cota.
Location: NW corner of Twiggs and Congress Sts, Old Town, San Diego
NO. 750 PEG LEG SMITH
MONUMENT - Thomas L. Smith, better known as 'Peg Leg,' 1801-1866, was a mountain
man, prospector, and spinner of tall tales. Legends regarding his lost gold mine
have grown through the years, and countless people have searched the desert for
its fabulous wealth. The mine could be within a few miles of this monument.
Location: Henderson Canyon Rd, 1,000 ft N of Pegleg Rd, Anza-Borrego
Desert State Park
NO. 764 SITE OF THE KATE O.
SESSIONS NURSERY - This plaque commemorates the life and influence of a woman
who envisioned a beautiful San Diego. On this site she operated a nursery and
gained world renown as a horticulturist, she was the first woman to receive the
International Meyer Medal in genetics.
Location: NW corner of Garnet Ave and Pico St, San Diego
NO. 784 EL CAMINO REAL (AS
FATHER SERRA KNEW IT AND HELPED BLAZE IT) - This plaque was placed on the 250th
anniversary of the birth of California's apostle, Padre Junípero Serra, OFM, to
mark El Camino Real as he knew it and helped blaze it.
Location: Mission San Diego de Alcala, 10818 San Diego Mission Rd, San
Diego to Mission San Francisco de Asis, San Francisco.
NO. 785 SANTA CATARINA -
This spring was named by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza when his overland
exploration party camped here on March 14, 1774, on the journey that opened the
Anza Trail from Sonora into Alta California. Anza's colonizing expedition of
1775, consisting of 240 persons and over 800 head of livestock, camped here the
night of December 23.
Location: Santa Catarina Springs, 10 mi NW of Borrego Springs (4-wheel
drive dirt rd), Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, ask at Visitor Center
NO. 793 SAN FELIPE VALLEY
AND STAGE STATION - Here the southern trail of explorers, trappers, soldiers,
and emigrants crossed ancient trade routes of Kamia, Cahuilla, Diegueno, and
Luiseño Indians. On the flat southwest across the creek, Warren F. Hall built
and operated the San Felipe home station of the Butterfield Mail, which operated
from 1858 to 1861. Later the station was used by Banning Stages and by the
military during the Civil War.
Location: On County Hwy S2 (P.M. 15.9), 0.9 mi NW of intersection of
State Hwy 78, near Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
NO. 798 SAN DIEGO STATE
COLLEGE, SITE OF FIRST DOCTORATE DEGREE GRANTED BY THE CALIFORNIA STATE COLLEGE
SYSTEM - Under the Master Plan for Higher Education adopted in 1960, the
colleges in the newly established California College System were given degrees
with the University of California, and independent degrees to individuals who
have made unusual contributions toward learning and civilization. San Diego
State College was the first of the California State Colleges to do so when, on
June 7, 1963 it conferred an honorary doctorate upon the late President of the
United States, John
Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Location: San Diego State University, N end of Aztec Bowl, across from
parking lot 'W,' at intersection of Scripps Terrace and Canyon Crest Dr, San
Diego
NO. 818 FIRST MILITARY
FLYING SCHOOL IN AMERICA - The flat lands beyond have been a part of aviation
history since Glenn Curtiss founded the first military flying school in America
here on January 17, 1911. The Army operated Rockwell Field until January 31,
1939, the Navy commissioned the present air station on November 8, 1917.
Location: Sunset Park, 200 block of Ocean Blvd, at entrance to Gate 5,
Naval Air Station, North Island, Coronado
NO. 830 OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO
STATE HISTORIC PARK - Settled by pensioned soldiers from the presidio and their
families, Old Town grew into a cluster of adobe houses and garden plots in the
early 1800s. By 1835, 'it was composed of about 40 dark brown looking huts.' The
Stars and Stripes was first raised over the plaza in 1846 by Marines from the
U.S.S. Cyane.
Location: Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, plaque located W
side of plaza at 4016 Wallace St, San Diego
NO. 844 HOTEL DEL CORONADO -
This Victorian hotel, built in 1887, is one of America's largest wooden
buildings. Few seaside resort hotels of this significant architectural style
remain in America. The hotel has hosted several Presidents and other national
figures.
Location: Hotel Garden Patio, 1500 Orange Ave, Coronado
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: POINT LOMA
NO. 858 PEDRO FAGES TRAIL -
On October 29, 1772, headed east from San Diego in search of army deserters,
Colonel Pedro Fages made the first entry by a European into Oriflamme Canyon.
From there, Fages and his men traveled on through Cajón Pass and around the
Mojave and the Central Valley to eventually reach Mission San Luís Obispo,
discovering the Colorado desert and the San Joaquin Valley.
Location: 1.7 mi SE on Sunrise Hwy (County Rd S1, P.M. 36) from
intersection with Hwy 79 (P.M. 14.5), 8 mi SE of Julian
NO. 891 SPANISH LANDING -
Near this point, sea and land parties of the Portolá-Serra expedition met in
1769. Two ships, the San Antonio and San Carlos, anchored on May 4-5 and the
scurvy-weakened survivors of the voyage established a camp, where on May 14 and
July 1 they greeted the parties coming overland from Baja California. Together,
they began the Spanish occupation of Alta California.
Location: Spanish Landing Park, Harbor Dr San Diego
NO. 940 RANCHO GUAJOME -
Formerly attached to Mission San Luís Rey, this 2,219-acre ranch was briefly
owned by two mission Indians and then came into the hands of Don Abel Stearns,
Ysidora Bandini acquired it on her marriage to Col. Cave Johnson Couts. The
adobe ranch house, built in 1852-53, is one of the finest extant examples of the
traditional Spanish-Mexican one-story hacienda with an inner-outer courtyard
plan. San Diego County acquired it in 1973 for the Guajome Regional Park.
Location: Rancho Guajome Regional Park, 2210 N Santa Fe Ave, 4 mi E of
Mission San Luis Rey, 3.3 mi N of Vista
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: SAN MARCOS
NO. 982 HISTORIC PLANNED
COMMUNITY OF RANCHO SANTA FE - Rancho Santa Fe began as Rancho San Dieguito, a
land grant of nearly 9,000 acres made to Juan María Osuna in 1845. The Santa Fe
Railway Company later used the land to plant thousands of eucalyptus trees for
use as railroad ties. In the 1920s Rancho Santa Fe became one of the state's
first planned communities unified by a single architectural theme, the Spanish
Colonial Revival. Lilian Rice, one of California's first successful women
architects, supervised the development and designed many of the buildings.
Location: Village Green in front of The Inn, Rancho Santa Fe
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