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Warner-Carrillo Ranch House
The Warner-Carrillo Ranch House has always battled its harsh environment. The 1857 adobe stands somewhat isolated in a mountain valley on the edge of the desert, where wind, rain, hail, and sometimes snow are fierce.
While SOHO maintains the adobe walls as needed, we do not strive for an overly restored or a newly constructed look. A site like this should appear as it did when in use as a working ranch, stage stop, and home. Still, every few years, we must undertake major adobe repair, mud plastering, and whitewashing.
Contractor Mark Sauer and his skilled crew, who made short work of a big job, recently completed the latest restoration. We thank them for their long-term commitment to the ranch house. Working with adobe is laborious and therefore costly. This project cost nearly $8,000. The next job is to paint the wood trim.
It is hard to believe that for decades this rare example of adobe vernacular architecture sat in ruins, especially given its social history. A remarkable woman rancher, Vincenta Carrillo, built the house. It became one of the most famous Butterfield stage stops on the Southern Emigrant Trail, which carried a third to half of the people coming to California in the mid-19th century.
The ranch house is surrounded by more than 40,000 acres of still preserved lands, owned by the Vista Irrigation District. This land continues in use as it did more than 200 years ago as working cattle lands. In the bigger scheme of things, however, the Warner-Carrillo Ranch House represents a California cultural landscape that is fast disappearing.
This National Historic Landmark, one of only 14 in all of San Diego County, is SOHO's least visited museum site. Newly installed highway signs directing visitors to the ranch house will help boost attendance and public awareness. SOHO promotes the Warner-Carrillo Ranch House and its role on the Southern Emigrant Trail so that San Diegans and history buffs who travel thousands of miles at some expense to see other American trails, like the California Trail and Oregon Trail, will add this ranch in San Diego's backcountry to their itineraries.
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