| Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos | |
|---|---|
 Johnson-Taylor Adobe in 2017 | |
 Interactive map of the Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos area | |
| General information | |
| Coordinates | 32°56′17″N117°07′37″W / 32.938°N 117.127°W /32.938; -117.127 |
| Construction started | 1824 |
Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos was a 8,486-acre (34.34 km2)Mexican land grant in present-day southwesternSan Diego County, California, given in 1823 toFrancisco María Ruiz. The name means "Saint Mary of the Little Cliffs". It encompassed the present-day communities ofMira Mesa,Carmel Valley, andRancho Peñasquitos in northernSan Diego, and was inland from theTorrey Pines State Natural Preserve bluffs.[1]
The Rancho Santa Maria de los Peñasquitos was the first Mexican land grant in present-daySan Diego County. Ruiz built an adobe home on the rancho, which was north of thePresidio andMission San Diego de Alcalá, and nearby theKumeyaay settlement ofAwil Nyawa. Ruiz built the first ranch house on the rancho in 1824, which was later expanded upon.[2]
In 1837 Ruiz sold his ranch toFrancisco María Alvarado - a grandnephew. After Ruiz died in 1839, Alvarado moved to the ranch, and lived in the adobe home built by Ruiz. Alvarado married Tomasa Pico (1801 - 1876), and they gave the property to their daughter Maria Estéfana Alvarado (1840 - 1926) when she married CaptainGeorge Alonzo Johnson (1823 - 1903) in 1859.[3][4]
With thecession of California to the United States following theMexican-American War, the 1848Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Los Peñasquitos was filed with thePublic Land Commission in 1852,[5][6] Capt. Johnson inherited the ranch by the time the U.S. government granted a patent to the land in 1876.[7]
The rancho was also a way station on the wagon road toWarner's Ranch fromSan Diego viaSan Pasqual andSanta Ysabel Asistencia, from the 1840s. From 1857 to 1860 the rancho was a way station on that road for the coaches of theSan Antonio-San Diego Mail Line on the 125 mile route between San Diego andCarrizo Creek Station via the Warner's Ranch road, and theSouthern Emigrant Trail. Passengers were given meals here, served by the lady of the house. Rancho Peñasquitos was 20 miles from San Diego and 16 miles from the next station atSan Pasqual.[8]
Capt. Johnson sold the rancho in 1880 to Colonel Jacob Shell Taylor, founder ofDel Mar. Charles F. Mohnike owned the ranch in 1910. In 1921 George Sawday and Oliver Sexon bought the ranch and stocked it with cattle. Real estate developer Irvin J. Kahn bought Rancho Peñasquitos in 1962.[9]
Rancho de Los Peñasquitos (Little Cliffs Ranch) is a historic 1823adobe ranch home located in theLos Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve inSan Diego, California. The San Diego County Parks & Recreation department offers tours on weekends. The area hasarcheological sites, with artifacts found showingindigenous people living here for over six thousand years.[1][10][11][12]
The Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve park also preserveshabitat on the former rancho lands for more than 500plant species, with many being rare orendemicnative plants in thecoastal sage scrubecosystem.[1] This locale was known to be quite wooded withriparian forests andoak woodlands as late as the 1880s, at which time California state survey recommended preservation of the locale's trees andwoodlandplant communities to prevent further erosion and subsequent flooding, which had already occurred from areas of priordeforestation. Additional present-day park land acquisition and plantrestoration is ongoing.[7] A tree endemic to only this area is theTorrey Pine, the rarest native pine in the United States and anendangered species surviving in a single mainland population withinTorrey Pines State Natural Reserve and the adjacent coastal strip.[13][14][15]
32°56′17″N117°07′37″W / 32.938°N 117.127°W /32.938; -117.127