What is San Dieguito?
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The San Dieguito Heritage Museum, founded in 1988, collects, preserves and interprets the local history of the San Dieguito river area--which includes the communities of Leucadia, Encinitas, Olivenhain, Cardiff, Solana Beach, Del Mar, and Rancho Santa Fe.
The name San Dieguito, meaning “Little San Diego,” was created to identify an area close to and north of San Diego, where the San Dieguito River flows through a valley and empties into San Dieguito Lagoon and then into the ocean just north of today’s city of Del Mar. Ten thousand years ago, a group of Indians we now call the San Dieguito lived in the lagoons of this area. Later, Spanish rancheros raised longhorn cattle on the surrounding hills and in the valleys, and in the 1840’s, a land grant of 8,825 acres called Rancho San Dieguito was given to Juan Maria Osuna. The center of this Rancho would be near today’s Rancho Santa Fe. Just north of Rancho San Dieguito, a 4,431-acre parcel of land was given to Don Andres Ybarra in 1842 by Gov. Juan Bautista Alvarado, and this was called Rancho Las Encinitas. These two ranchos and some surrounding land were settled and farmed by Europeans and American citizens from eastern states starting in the 1880’s, and this entire area became known as San Dieguito.
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Museum Information
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Location: |
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Mailing Address: |
P.O. Box 230851 |
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Phone: |
760-632-9711 |
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Fax: |
760-632-5695 |
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Museum Hours: |
12:00 - 4:00 p.m., |
