Las Flores Adobe
Camp Pendleton Historical Society
West side of Stuart Mesa Road, about seven miles north of Vandergrift Blvd. junction in Camp Pendleton, CA

Courtesy Bruce Coons

Courtesy campplentonranchhouse.org

AFTER RECEIVING THE RANCHO MARGARITA Y LAS FLORES land grant in 1841, Pio Pico (the last Mexican Governor of Alta California), sold the 133,441-acre ranch to his brother-in-law, John Forster. Known as Don Juan, Forster traveled from Liverpool to California in his teens, and became a successful businessman who adopted the California culture, language, and the Catholic faith when he married Pico's sister Ysidora. Four years after purchasing the ranch land, Forster presented it to his son Marco as a wedding gift. It was Marco Forster who built the U-shaped adobe home for his family in 1868, borrowing elements of the Monterey, Colonial and Hacienda architectural styles.

The structure comprised a rectangular two-story main house, with a long single-story section connecting the main house with the carriage house, creating a central courtyard bounded by a fence.

After Juan Forster's death, the property was sold in 1882 to Richard O'Neill and James. L. Flood, ranchers who hired the Magee family to operate the ranch six years later. The United States government acquired the land in 1941, establishing Camp Pendleton, a Marine training base. The Magee family was allowed to continue to reside in the adobe until 1967, when the last surviving family member passed away.

The Flores adobe was renovated by Camp Pendleton in 2000, and the Marines use the site for heritage events.

Camp Pendleton Historical Society LINK