Art wine and travel tour of Cambria California
This area of the Central Coast, known Earliest human settlement of this area is associated with prehistoric habitation by the Native American Chumash peoples, who exploited marine resources along the coastal area, with emphasis upon sites that were streamside in nature.
Although our recorded history of the tribes in this region does not begin until explorers
and missionaries arrived, there is evidence that there were many tribal settlements in the area that was to become Cambria. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 thrived in the area in the 1000 years before the Spanish arrived. Some experts believe these tribes were migratory and used Cambria as a seasonal settlement, while others are convinced that they lived there permanently. Most agree that they feasted on shellfish and seafood on the coast, as well as traveling inland to hunt and gather seeds. A variety of artistically-crafted implements have been discovered, including obsidian spears and arrowheads; basalt, sandstone, and granite mortars and pestles; soapstone kettles; and stone hammers. They were skilled basket and net makers and fashioned jewelry from crab claws, abalone shells, and the teeth of sharks and whales. The presence of soapstone (steatite) provides evidence that they traded with the Catalina Island tribes, while the lack of metals and glass indicated they did not trade with Europeans or Asiatics.
Evidence exists to allow experts to conclude that Cambria tribes
were gentle, generous, and peaceful, and that they lived simply. Their family bonds were strong, and they exhibited great love and patience toward their children. They were also noted for their extreme cleanliness in handling and preparing food and possessed an advanced knowledge of medicinal herbs. For entertainment, they enjoyed music and had a passion for gambling.
Cambria is located on the Rancho Santa Rosa Mexican land grant given in 1841 Julian Estrada.
Miners were attracted to the area upon the discovery of the Little Bonanza Deposit in 1862, as well as the other deposits discovered soon thereafter in the Santa Lucia Mountain Range, which were worked sporadically until 1940.[
Originally a American settlement called Slab Town, it was centered at Leffingwell cove of today's north Moonstone Beach, which also housed a wharf. As lumber, ranching and Quicksilver (mercury) mining increased in the area, the village adopted the more dignified name of Cambria, influence by a local transplant surveyor from Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
Other notable locations in the town include the historical Old Santa Rosa Chapel which was built in 1870, and as one of the oldest churches in the county of San Luis Obispo, held Catholic mass until May 26, 1963.[7] The church fell into neglect until 1978, when the chapel and cemetery were restored. Wooden markers and tombstones as old as the founding year of the chapel (1870) grace the Santa Rosa Catholic Cemetery to the rear of the small chapel and donned with the large entrance sign reading: In Pace Requiescat (Latin for Rest In Peace).
