To tell a story, it’s sometimes helpful to have a visual aid.
The adobe buildings of the Inland area serve that purpose for the region’s historians, allowing them to show how and where the area’s first, and subsequent, settlers lived. In some cases, people can run their hands over an adobe’s rough earthen walls that are more than 100 years old. Other adobes have been preserved in shape only, and they have been reinforced for use as office buildings or museums.
“There wasn’t a lot of lumber,” said Darrell Farnbach, a member of the Vail Ranch Restoration Association, explaining the genesis of an era that dates to the late 1700s in what became the Golden State. “(Adobe) served its purpose in early California history.”
People interested in searching out and visiting the structures don’t have to travel far. Two of the most well-preserved adobes in the county are in the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Preserve near Murrieta, a short drive west of I-15.
Others, such as Casa Loma and the Gonzalez Adobe, both in Temecula, are nestled in the heart of suburbia.
The Gonzalez Adobe is a good example of an adobe that has evolved over time. When it was built in 1879, it was the home of Jose Gonzalez, a Basque from Spain who came to the area with Murrieta’s namesake, Juan Murrieta, in the early 1870s. It was initially built as a house for Gonzalez’s wife and children. It later housed a florist, a chocolate shop and a language school, according to the city of Temecula’s website. Today it is the home base for a Molly Maid office and the centerpiece of the aptly named Adobe Plaza shopping center, which houses an eclectic mix of businesses, including a popular Indian restaurant.
Here are five other adobe sites in the Inland area:
1) Casa Loma
What: An adobe hacienda built by the Vail family, owners of a large cattle operation that included much of present-day Temecula.
When: Built in 1921.
Where: 31658 Via San Carlos, Temecula.
Significance: Casa Loma, a house that overlooks the valley that became modern-day Temecula, is a different type of adobe structure. It was built in the 1920s as an homage to California history, a romantic evocation of an earlier time. That foundation has served the building well, and today it is used as a wedding venue.
2) Moreno and Machado Adobes
What: Two adobes that were used when the Santa Rosa Plateau was part of a huge cattle ranch.
When: Moreno Adobe was built in 1846, but a portion of it washed away in a flood. Machado Adobe was built in 1855.
Where: To reach the adobes, drive south on Clinton Keith Road past the visitors center for several miles, pass Tenaja and Rancho California roads, and park in the lot on the left. Hike to the vernal pools, and follow signs to the adobes. One way, it’s 1.7 miles of easy to moderate trail. Several trails of varying lengths return to the parking lot.
Significance: The land surrounding the adobes has been shielded from development, which allows people to experience the same sounds, sights and smells as someone who visited in the 1860s.
3) Ruins of third Serrano Adobe
What: Don Leandro Serrano planted orchards and vineyards and cultivated some of the fertile lands of the Temescal Valley. In the 1840s, he built his third adobe, which the Serrano family occupied until 1898, on the well-traveled road between San Diego and Los Angeles.
When: Built in the 1840s.
Where: Northeast corner of I-15 and Old Temescal Road, 8 miles southeast of Corona.
Significance: Serrano was the son of a soldier in Spanish explorer Capt. Gaspar de Portola’s first expedition from Mexico to Alta California. He was the first non-American Indian to settle in the county, carving out a homestead in the Temescal Valley between Corona and Lake Elsinore in 1818. Three Temescal Valley landmarks bear his name: the site of the adobe, a boulder and restored vats used to process cattle hides for leather.
4) Trujillo Adobe
What: The adobe was part of a twin settlement on the Santa Ana River, La Placita de los Trujillos and Agua Mansa, one of the largest settlements between Los Angeles and New Mexico in the 1840s.
When: Built in 1862 or 1863.
Where: The adobe is shielded by a wooden, stable-like shelter on Center Street, west of Orange Street, in Riverside. Descendants of the families who lived in the settlement are working to get the adobe restored for use as the centerpiece of a “Spanish Old Town.”
Significance: The adobe’s walls, the Agua Mansa cemetery and a replica chapel are nearly all that remain of the first nonnative, nonmission settlement in the San Bernardino Valley.
What: Historians believe the structure was built by James Waters, a noted hunter, trapper and mountaineer.
When: Built in 1858-59.
Where: 32183 Kentucky St., Yucaipa
Significance: John Dunlap, a Texas cattleman, purchased the Yucaipa ranch in 1869. The Dunlap family moved into the adobe and used the land for grazing and for raising grain and alfalfa. The family maintained ties to the ranch until the 1950s. By that time, most of the property had been sold. The adobe was spared by the Yucaipa Women’s Club in the mid-1950s and given to San Bernardino County to be used as part of its museum system. It is temporarily closed to the public.
Sources: San Bernardino County, city of Temecula, Press-Enteprise archives, “Temecula: At the Crossroads of History,” Riverside County Regional Park & Open-Space District, California state parks, adobes.
Otros adobes de interés:
Adobe de Palomares: 491 E. Arrow Highway, Pomona; (909) 623-2198.
Blas Aguilar Adobe: 31806 Camino Real, San Juan Capistrano; (949) 493-4933.
Domínguez Rancho Adobe: 18127 S. Alameda St., Rancho Domínguez; (310) 603-0088.
Montañez Adobe: 31745 Los Ríos St., San Juan Capistrano; (949) 240-3119.
Ramón Peralta Adobe: 6398 E Santa Ana Canyon Road, Anaheim; (714) 973-3190.
