Community Corner

Historians Discover New Adobe

The foundation was uncovered in the early stages of a retrofitting project at the Silvas Adobe in San Juan Capistrano's Los Rios Historic District.

In Orange County's oldest town, there are still pieces of the past yet to be discovered.

Though the locations of more than 40 mud and brick homes built by Native Americans in the 18th century—only a handful of which still stand today—are well-documented, local preservationists this summer found an adobe pueblo they didn't know existed.

The president of San Juan Capistrano's Historical Society, Tom Ostensen, was knocking down 20th-century board and batten additions at the Silvas Adobe when archaeologists discovered the pueblo's foundation, calling it a "pretty big deal."

Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Ideally, the now-exposed foundation will be incorporated into enhancements at the mint green , which will likely include re-creating a back porch that would have once stood next to the Silvas and the adjoining back adobe.

"This town has more history than we know about," said local preservationist David Belardes.

Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Saturday, Belardes was among the local history buffs who sat out at the wraparound porch of the Arley Leck House, using tongue depressors and fine mesh screens to sift for artifacts, some sipping red wine from Styrofoam cups.

Among the discoveries are a prehistoric shell bead; microscopic, brightly colored beads; nickels from the 1880s; bullets and cow and rabbit bones.

"What's most exciting to me is they found an adobe foundation they weren't even aware of in this town," said Judy McKeehan, an archaeologist who discovered the foundation while working on site the past few days.

Coincidentally, a similar project is taking place east of at the . There, , which was once joined with the Blas before it was demolished in 1935.

The Tejada foundation, however, was documented in the 1930s, so local historians have known of its existence for decades. 

Structurally, adobes are notoriously weak. Both the Blas and the Silvas will be strengthened to withstand earthquakes.

Adobes "are the only above-ground remains of the state’s initial settlement by Spain and Mexico in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries," explains a 1996 report by the Getty Conservation Institute.

"They are invaluable reminders of a time past when California was sparsely populated by Native Americans, who, at the direction of the first Hispanic colonizers, constructed the majority of these buildings," the report continues.

The historical society will need to raise between $100,000 and $150,000 to complete the retrofits at the Silvas.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here