DE ANZA CHAPTER, NSDAR, HONORED SIKES ADOBE HISTORIC FARMHOUSE

The De Anza Chapter, NSDAR, held a dedication ceremony to place a commemorative plaque at the Sikes Adobe Historic Farmhouse on Saturday, May 5, 2018.

Photo courtesy of a chapter member.

Restored to its period of historical significance, the adobe farmhouse is a testimony to family farmers who settled and developed commercial agriculture in San Diego County during the late 19th century. Settlers Zenas Sikes and Eliza Burrell both came west during the gold rush, purchased acreage on the former Mexican land grant of Rancho San Bernardo, and became one of the founding families of the new community of Bernardo. The Sikeses built the original adobe farmhouse in the early 1870s, later adding additional wood-framed rooms. The family initially farmed wheat for the county’s expanding population and business markets, but economic changes led them to convert to dairy and fruit farming by the early 1890s. The farmhouse is architecturally significant as one of the county’s few remaining adobe structures from California’s Early American Period.

The San Dieguito River Valley Regional Open Space Park Joint Powers Authority (River Park Authority) maintains the farmhouse as a historic museum. The River Park Authority engaged a historic restoration team that completed its work in 2004. The restored farmhouse was nearly destroyed in the 2007 wind-driven Witch Creek wildfire, though adobe walls of the original building were left standing. Extensive documentation from the original restoration allowed the team to reconstruct the structure again in 2010.    

-Carmel Valley Times

National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

California State Society Daughters of the American Revolution