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| Outside the chapel |
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| Entrance to the house |
We
joined a DayTripper group to visit the Santa Margarita Ranch House complex at
Camp Pendleton
which includes the
Ranch House built in 1827, the bunkhouse and a chapel that was originally the
winery. It was the home of Pio
Pico, last governor of Mexican California, and succeeding owners Don Juan
Forster, the O'Neills, Floods, Baumgartners and, finally, United States Marine
Corps Commanding Generals. Historic artifacts at the complex document
pre-history through Mission and Rancho periods, the 1942 purchase of Camp
Pendleton by the government, and
reflect the WWII and the Korean War.
Exhibits include early ranch equipment,
photographs of President Roosevelt's historic visit and
antiques donated by Anthony Quinn
during the filming of "Guadalcanal Diary" in 1943.
Camp
Pendleton is the major West coast base of the U.S, Marine Corps and was named
after Major General Joseph Pendleton.
Lake
O’Neill was constructed across Fallbrook Creek in 1883, was historically used
primarily to store water for farm irrigation. Today it is used as a recreation
area in Camp Pendleton.
The
group enjoyed a Mexican lunch at El Callejon restaurant in Vista before going
on to Rancho Buena Vista which was given in 1845
by governor Pio Pico to Felipe Subria, a mission Indian.
The
land grant was south of the San Luis river and encompassed present day
Vista.
The ranch changed hands
many times over the years and was acquired by the City of Vista in 1989. The
adobe is the best preserved early California home of the more than 25 ranchos
in San Diego County.
