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Historic By-Ways Tour Page 1
1 - San Simeon: From Hwy 1, take San Simeon State Beach Exit west; follow road north.
By
the 1860s, San Simeon Bay had gained local importance as a shipping
point, handling barrels of whale oil, cheese, butter, and other
agricultural products of the Central Coast. Grant, Lull and Company, who
also operated a general merchandise store in Cambria, built this
false-front store in 1872. George Hearst (a U.S. senator and father of
Castle builder William Randolph Hearst) acquired 1,000 of the
surrounding acres in 1865 and built the large warehouse (connected to a
pier by a narrow-gauge track) across the street in 1878. At its peak,
San Simeon Bay boasted two hotels, saloons, stores, a blacksmith shop,
livery stable, butcher shop, school, and stage depot. Most of these
businesses were gone by 1910, but this rustic store survived. The
Sebastian family, who bought the building in 1914, operated the store
for more than 70 years. A remnant of a shipping industry that once
served whalers, dairymen, miners, and ranch hands, Sebastian’s General
Store today provides for the needs of the many visitors to the area.
Scavenging
for discarded items to use as construction materials, local eccentric
Arthur Beale began creating his whimsical house in 1928. Also known as
Captain Nitt Witt and der Tinkerpaw, Beale fashioned a fantasy world
using broken and salvaged pieces the community no longer wanted.
Following Beale’s death, the property was administered by a
foundation. Today the crumbling house and terraced gardens have a new
owner, Michael O’Malley, and the property is undergoing a conservation
effort that will stabilize it without sacrificing its unique character.
When the work is completed, Beale’s folk art legacy will be preserved
for all to enjoy. The
Excelsior Cheese Factory, a large two-story wooden structure outfitted
with “all the best appliances used in the cheese factories of New
York,” was established on this site c.1870. At its peak the factory
produced 1,200 lbs of cheese a day, but production was erratic and
finally ceased altogether. In 1908 the factory got a new lease on life
when M. G. Salmina built the present structure and opened for business
as The Diamond Creamery. The Harmony Valley Creamery Association was
formed in 1913 with 22 charter members, all Swiss-Italian dairymen. By
1936 membership had reached 400 and the Harmony plant grew to include a
co-op store stocking supplies for the dairymen and a market for products
manufactured by the creamery. The association was affiliated with the
Challenge Creamery and Butter Association until 1956. Cheese and butter
making ceased in 1958 as the dairy farms changed to beef cattle,
although for a short while bulk milk continued to be pasteurized at the
plant.
The
Cayucos Trading Post building dates back to at least 1895, when it was a
blacksmith’s and the small attached building to the south was a
woodworking shop. By the 1870s Cayucos was a bustling market center and
shipping hub for the dairies and farms that dotted the nearby coast and
valleys. Italian-speaking Swiss dairymen, most of whom had emigrated
from Canton Ticino, worked on or owned the majority of these dairies. On
“steamer day” they thronged into town to ship their butter, to have
farm equipment repaired, and to buy supplies. The second generation
continued speaking Italian, and often it was the only language heard on
the streets of Cayucos.
The
Cass House (1876), barn, warehouse, and pier near the north end of Ocean
Boulevard are reminders of the early importance of Cayucos as a port.
Captain James Cass came to Cayucos from England in 1867 and was
responsible for building the wharf which opened up the coast to markets
north and south. During the early 1900s the construction of roads
eventually brought an end to the coastal steamer trade.
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