LA LOMA ADOBE HISTORY

The origins of the original
La Loma Adobe
are shrouded in mystery and tied to our
history.


Mission Period: 1772 - 1834

Believed by some to have been built as early as the 1780's as a single-room, one-story adobe, it would have been an outbuilding of the Mission San Luis Obispo complex.

The excellent view of the valley below might have proved useful fo r controlling grazing or regulating traffic along El Camino Real.

Rancho Period: 1834 - 1850

During this period, Mission Properties were granted to private citizens by the Mexican government. The land from here to Mission San Luis Obispo was part of a rancho named "La Vina", believed to contain old Mission vineyards and also including La Loma de La Nopalera, the hill of the cactus.

Many land titles and boundaries were unsettled during the transitional government period after Americans took possession of California in 1847 at the end of the Mexican-American War. It is undertain who owned and occupied the adobe during that time.

Early American Period: 1850 - 1887

Francisco Estevan Quintana bought the land and buildings of La Vina in 1852, which included La Loma Adobe. In 1859, concerned about his insecure title, he traded the adobe and adjacent land for property northeast of San Luis Obispo owned by Maria Concepcion Boronda.

 
People of La Loma
Screenshot 2024 09 09 at 12.30.27 pm

Recent historical finds

Stuffed in a crack of a wall of the adobe, we found an old pair of pants. Using old rags to hold out the weather is not unusual, but these pants are a bit uncommon.

The pants are made of heavy fabric and designed to be held up with suspenders. Originally, they were machine-sewn but have numerous hand stitched patches. We imagine a farmer pulling them over their everyday clothes before heading out to the field. We don’t yet know the age of these pants but we are continuing to research and will let you know what we find out.
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