San Diego
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
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. 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
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
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
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
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
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. 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
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 on west side of right entrance to restaurant, Old Town, San Diego
No. 61 OLD LA PLAYA From 1770 to 1870, this was San Diego's port. Over the Brookline hide house, Americans unofficially raised a U.S. flag in 1829. At that time La Playa was a thriving trading and shipping village. Richard Henry Dana's account of the hide business in Two Years Before the Mast is based on his hide-droghing experience here in 1835-36. The U.S. Navy later acquired the site and operated a coaling station and a quarantine station here. It is now a Navy research center.
Location: On left side of Rosecrans St, at entrance to Military Reserve, Point Loma, San Diego
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. 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. 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. 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
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. 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
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
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
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
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
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. 239 MISSION SAN LUÍS REY DE FRANCIA - Founded June 12, 1798 by Father Lasuén, then president of the California missions, and administered by Father Peyrí, Mission San Luís Rey is notable for its impressive architecture-a composite of Spanish, Moorish, and Mexican.
Location: On State Hwy 76 (4050 Mission Ave) at Rancho Del Oro Dr, Oceanside
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
NO. 243 ASISTENCIA 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. (This mission was founded as a sub-mission of San Luis Rey de Francis)
Location: Mission on Pala Mission Rd, plaque on State Hwy 76 (P.M. 23.6), 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
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
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
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. 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. 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
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: Parking lot on N side of Market St. (St Hwy 163), block bounded by Kettner Blvd & California St, San Diego
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
NO. 562 LA CHRISTIANITA - Near this spring, the first Christian baptism in Alta California was performed by Padre Francisco Gómez, a member of the Portolá Expedition, in 1769.
Location: Site and plaque in Camp Pendleton, Los Cristianitos Canyon, on Cristianitos Rd, 0.4 mi N. of intersection of San Mateo Rd, 3 mi E of I-5 at San Clemente, plaque in San Clemente Civic Center 100 Avenida Presidio, San Clemente
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. 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
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. 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. 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. 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. 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 (Pacific Beach area), 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, entrance to service area of Cox Arenam off 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
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
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
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: 6200 Flying L.C. Lane, Carlsbad
NO. 1023 NATIONAL CITY DEPOT TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD - This National City California Southern Railroad depot built in 1882 served as the first Pacific Coast terminus station of the Santa Fe Railway system’s transcontinental railroad. The station was the West Coast general office and figured prominently in Santa Fe’s effort to break the economic and transportation monopoly of California held by the Central/Southern Pacific Railroads. The first transcontinental trains arrived in November 1885, resulting in one of the largest land booms in the history of California. Of the original five transcontinental railroad terminus stations, this unique Italianate designed station is the lone survivor.
Location: 900 West 23 St, National City, San Diego
NO. 1026 SANTA MARGARITA RANCH HOUSE - In July 1769, the Portola Expedition named this area for St. Margaret of Antioch. The Mission San Luis Rey 1827 Inventories list a small building in the area. In 1841, Rancho San Onofre Y Santa Margarita was granted to Andres and Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California. Land magnate Don Juan Forster owned the rancho from 1864-1882. Richard O’Neill and James Flood purchased 205, 000 acres in 1882. The ranch house stop served the 1882 transcontinental California Southern Railroad. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Marine Corps Base Camp Joseph H. Pendleton. The railroad line continued as a vital military transportation link before devastation by the 1993 flood.
Location: US Marine Corp Camp Pendleton, San Diego
NO. 1030 STAR OF INDIA - The “Star of India,” a three-masted bark, is the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship afloat. Built on the Isle of Man, Great Britain, she was launched in 1863 and christened Euterpe. The Trans-Pacific trade from 1871-1898 resulted in the Euterpe circumnavigating the earth twenty-one times, stopping in San Francisco in 1873 and 1883. She was purchased by the Alaska Packers Association to service the salmon canneries in Alaska, leaving each season from Alameda during 1902-1923, Euterpe was renamed Star of India. The Star of India continues to sail the Pacific Ocean as an active reminder of early California’s maritime commerce.
Location: Docked at 1306 North Harbor Drive, San Diego
NO. 1031 FERRYBOAT BERKELEY - The steam ferryboat Berkeley was the first successful West Coast-built and operated ferry to be driven by a screw propeller as opposed to side-wheels. Built by the famous Union Iron Workers of San Francisco in 1898, the ferry operated until 1958 as part of the San Francisco Bay ferry system. The Berkeley is the oldest steel-hulled ferry on the West Coast and the earliest double-ended ferryboat to survive with her original historic fabric intact. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake the Berkeley assisted in evacuating refugees to Oakland.
Location: Docked at 1306 North Harbor Drive, San Diego
NO. 1042 USS RECRUIT - This 2/3 scale model of a destroyer escort (TDE_1) helped instruct as many as 50,000 naval recruits annually in basic naval procedure. Commissioned July 27, 1949, the Recruit was the Navy's only commissioned ship never to reach water. It is the sole survivor of three such ships built by the Navy following World War II. In 1982, the Recruit was reconditioned to serve as a training guided missile frigate. Naval recruits gave the structure its affectionate nickname, USS Neversail.
Location: Liberty Station, Point Loma, San Diego
NO. 1044 GIANT DIPPER ROLLER COASTER - The 1925 Giant Dipper Roller Coaster (or “Earthquake”) is a large wooden roller coaster, and its highest “hills” reach a height of 75 feet. It is one of only two large wooden scaffolded roller coasters remaining on the West Coast. The Giant Dipper was designed by noted coaster builders Prior and Church. It is the prime survivor and most visible symbol of the Mission Beach Amusement Center. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
Location: 3190 Mission Boulevard, San Diego
NO. 1045 CAMP LOCKETT - Built in 1941, Camp Lockett was occupied by the military until 1946 and was the last training facility constructed for mounted cavalry units in Southern California. Camp Lockett also was the last military installation in California to house and train African American mounted troops, known as "Buffalo Soldiers," before their units were permanently disbanded as a mounted horse cavalry division. With the departure of the Buffalo Soldier units from Camp Lockett to the war theater of North Africa in 1944, the era of the horse soldier ended.
Location: Campo, San Diego County