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Have You Ever Been to the Dana
Adobe?
The views of the Temetate Ridge
are spectacular with colors of green, lavender,
yellow, tan and blue. Sometimes you even see additional colors, depending
upon the season. From the Dana veranda you see
rolling hills and
ranch lands. You see
animals grazing in the distance.
Some of the almost 100 varieties of birds that live near the adobe are singing. This must be the view Captain William Dana saw when he
decided to build here.
Inside and outside, the building itself is being restored to its original
grandeur circa 1850. This is one of the most beautiful, relaxing and inspiring
places in all of
California. It is an artist's, a history buff's, an environmentalist's, a
rancher's, and a photographer's paradise.
If you haven't seen the Dana Adobe,
won't you come for a visit? If you have visited, come back again and
renew your spirit.
Generally, docent conducted
tours are Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. from May through October,
and Sunday 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. during the winter months. During the week you might find our director in the adobe
from about 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
and the gate will be open to visitors.
(If the gate is open, someone will
give you a tour.)
Call
805-929-5679 to arrange special tours, school tours and group tours. The adobe
and grounds are available for artists and photographers to enjoy
whenever they are open.
Two and one half hour
nature hikes are conducted approximately once a month by well known naturalist Bill
Denneen. His hikes are on Sundays from 9:30 am until noon. The distance is two
miles and it is an easy hike. Call 805-929-3647 for a schedule.
Directions
To visit the Dana
Adobe exit the 101 freeway at Tefft in
Nipomo, CA (30 miles south of San Luis Obispo). Go east one block to Oakglen and
turn south one mile. There is a sign at the entrance.
Organization: DANA
Dana Adobe Nipomo Amigos (DANA) is the nonprofit corporation organized to re
store
and maintain
the historic 1839
rancho
home known as the Dana Adobe (La Casa de Dana) located in Nipomo, County of San Luis
Obispo, California.
Mission:
To preserve the Dana Adobe (La Casa de Dana) on Rancho Nipomo as a means of promoting knowledge
and understanding of California's rancho era; and to encourage an appreciation
of that era's influence on the present and future of California.
Goals:
- To rehabilitate, permanently preserve, and maintain the Dana Adobe as it
would have appeared in the nineteenth century and to build an historic park
surrounding the adobe that will recreate the rancho era.
- To provide historical and archaeological interpretation of the Dana Adobe
and its cultural landscape.
- To provide opportunities for research and education in the history and
prehistory of Rancho Nipomo and California's central coast.
- To provide opportunities for research and training in the rehabilitation and
preservation of adobe buildings.
Strategies:
- Develop and implement a long-range plan for the rehabilitation and
permanent preservation of the Dana Adobe, which is consistent with the
Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic
Buildings.
- Develop a docent program and other educational programs and opportunities
relating to pre-historical and historic cultures of Rancho Nipomo and
California's central coast.
- Seek funding from grants, donations, and other sources sufficient to
rehabilitate, preserve and maintain the Dana Adobe consistent with the
mission statement.
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Dana Adobe 1960 |
Dana Adobe 2005 |
A Brief History
The CASA de DANA, or "Dana Adobe," began in 1839 and was completed much
as it appears today in about 1851. It is the most historically significant
remaining residence on the Central California Coast. Its architect and builder, Captain
William G Dana of Boston, played an important role in the histories of Santa
Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, and through his influence and contacts, in
the history of the State of California, both before and after statehood.
In addition, Dana was one of those few and famous Yankee Sea Captains who traded
with the "Californios," and through his trade in the triangle
from China, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and California, interested the United
States in expanding to the West and annexing California. Thus, this is a home of
national significance as well. La Casa de Dana , located beside the old
Camino Real which bisected the 38,000 acre Rancho Nipomo, for
many years provided a stopping place for travelers along this main north-south
artery.
Captain John C. Fremont was a guest at the Rancho on his march south to the
conquest of Los Angeles in 1846. and Capt. W. H. Halleck, who later became
Abraham Lincoln's Chief of Staff, was a personal friend of Dana's and a frequent
visitor. Letters preserved in collections at Bancroft Library, the Huntington
Library, and numerous other institutions document Dana's correspondence with
most of the leading figures during one of the most critical eras in California's
history. The adobe's significance, however, lies not only in its associations
with historic figures, but with events that took place there as well.
After the end of the war with Mexico and before California became a state,
William G. Dana's home was designated by order of General Kearney as one of only
four official exchange points along the state's first American mail route. In
1849 it became one of the two polling places in what became San Luis Obispo
County where votes were cast on delegates to the first convention on statehood, and from the 1850's to
the 1890's all stage coaches traveling north and south along this inland route
stopped at the Rancho's adobe barn (whose foundations can still be seen near the
house) to change horses.
In addition to its historic significance, the Dana Adobe has a
cultural value
which becomes increasingly relevant as the demographics of modern California
change. Captain Dana's wife, Maria Josefa Carrillo was the daughter of Carlos
Carrillo of Santa Barbara, one-time governor of California under Mexico, and
also the niece of the general, Jose Castro, who commanded California troops against
the American takeover of California in 1846 and '47. The thirteen children born
to the couple who lived to adulthood were raised in the traditions, religion and
language of Mexican California, but were educated in their father's native
language, values and customs as well. They also learned the language of the
Indians who were employed on the rancho and some of their customs. As with the house itself, which
architecturally blends features of the California adobe with those of the New
England frame house, life at Casa de Dana was a blend of Hispanic and
American and even Chumash cultures.
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Official Project
California Historic Landmark #1033
charter.net