Virtual Tours
Historic
By-Ways Tour
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Pozo Saloon & Mining Camp Stopover
9 - Pozo: Take Highway 101 up Cuesta Grade to Santa Margarita exit
(Hwy 58). Follow Hwy 58 about 3.5 miles to junction with Pozo
Road, bear right to reach Pozo.
Pozo
is situated on part of the historic San José Rancho, claimed in 1854
by Ynocente García. When the U.S. Land Commission determined that the
rancho was not a bona fide land grant, García soon found himself
joined by other settlers filing claims on the government land.
Dairies, farms, ranches, orchards, and vineyards sprouted on the
landscape, and the area became known as the San José Valley.
The historic Pozo saloon, established by partners García and Lascano,
was already in operation by the mid 1860s but received a surge of new
customers during the gold rush in nearby La Panza. Pozo received its
name in 1881, and by 1900 the saloon was a part of a community of 200
that included a blacksmith, barber, post office, school, hotel, store,
grist mill, and dance hall. Still a popular watering hole, the Pozo
saloon is our own local reminder of California’s Gold Rush days.
The La Panza-Pozo grade separates the two regions. The gold rush at La
Panza —now a distant memory — began in 1878 when Epifanio Trujillo
spotted some gold nuggets gleaming in Placer Creek. Soon nearly 600
people had swarmed into the area. Mines extended along Navajo Creek
and expanded up into neighboring canyons. The La Panza land grant
stretched 20 miles along the San Juan River and once boasted its own
school district, post office, voting precinct, and mining district.
Today all that remains is a stone dairy building. At one time the La
Panza Ranch was owned by Drury James, uncle of notorious outlaws Frank
and Jesse James, who visited him in the late 1860s.
Octagonal
Barn
10 - San Luis Obispo: Take Higuera Street south from San Luis Obispo.
Barn located on South Higuera Street about 0.5 miles south of Los Osos
Valley Road.
This
rare barn is one of only three left in California. Built before 1900
and owned until 1994 by the Lima-Pereira family, the octagonal barn is
currently being restored by the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo.
When the building is sound again and the cupola is firmly back in
place, the barn will serve as a roadside stand containing a cornucopia
of fresh fruits and vegetables, a sampling of the bounty of local
agriculture. A nearby dairy barn will serve as exhibit and information
space on the county’s natural resources and agricultural history.
This area, south of the City of San Luis Obispo, was once referred to
as “Portuguese Flats” because so many families from the Azores had
settled there. These families worked dairies and farms that lay along
both sides of the roadway and the narrow-gauge railway leading to Port
San Luis (Avila). During World War I, dried navy beans became an
important cash crop, causing dairy lands to be turned over to bean
production.
Port
Harford Covered Wharf
11 - Avila Beach: From Hwy 101, take the Avila Beach Exit and follow
signs to Avila/Port San Luis. Port Harford Wharf is at the end of the
road, 4.5 miles from Hwy 101.
Captain
John Harford built a railroad wharf at Port San Luis in 1873. The
wharf’s facilities included a horse-drawn railway, constructed with
Chinese labor, that connected the wharf to the mouth of San Luis
Creek. A few years later, the wharf became a terminus for the
narrow-gauge Pacific Coast Railway, which connected the port to San
Luis Obispo and to towns as far south as Los Alamos in Santa Barbara
County. The wharf’s original warehouse burned in 1887 but was
rebuilt. Later, in 1904, a long dock was added that extended 1,400
feet past the warehouse to accommodate the Union Oil pipeline. A
second fire destroyed the warehouse in 1915, and again it was rebuilt.
The Pacific Coast Railway was abandoned in 1942.
Join the docent-led Pecho Coast Trail hikers (805-541-TREK) for a hike
up the coast and a visit to the Point San Luis Lighthouse, which began
operating in 1890. Currently being restored by the Point San Luis
Lighthouse Keepers, work is also ongoing to be able to provide the
public with access to the Light Station complex.
Blue
Star Memorial Temple
12 - Halcyon: From Hwy 101 South, take the Halcyon Rd exit; proceed
about 1 mile. The temple is on the right, just inside the Halcyon town
limits.
Francia
La Due and Dr. William Dower, followers of Theosophist leader Madame
Helen Blavatsky, founded the utopian settlement of Halcyon in 1903. La
Due and Dower’s Theosophical community, known as the Temple of the
People, began construction of the Blue Star Memorial Temple in 1923.
Every aspect of the triangular Temple’s architectural design
incorporates symbols reflecting the community’s Theosophical
beliefs. Formed a century ago, the Temple of the People still conducts
regular services here. In a nearby eucalyptus grove, located at the
corner of The Pike and South Elm Street, lies the tiny Halcyon
Cemetery, where La Due and Dower are buried.
A community of artists, writers, philosophers, hermits, and hoboes
once lived amongst the dunes in ramshackle cabins of driftwood and
salvaged lumber. Gavin Arthur, grandson of President Chester A.
Arthur, became interested in forming a utopian commune in the dunes
during the 1920s, centering it around an area known as Moy Mell. The
colony was unofficially known as the “Dunites” and included the
area south of Oceano to Oso Flaco Lake. A marvelous account of their
little-known history is found in the book The Dunites, by Norm
Hammond.
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County Map of Areas and Sites on This Tour
