Historic Landmarks of San Diego & Southern California

Santa Ysabel Store
Hours: Saturday & Sunday, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: 30275 Highway 78, Santa Ysabel CA (1 hr, 15 min from San Diego)

Built in 1884, this store used to be the traditional central source of food and other essential items for farmers, families, and travelers. It’s a great representation of a convenient store during that era. Newly restored, it now sells antique items and architectural salvage known as The Feed Store.

Marston House & Gardens
Hours: Sunday, Monday, Friday, Saturday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Admission: Adults $15, Children (6-12) $7
Location: 3525 Seventh Ave, San Diego CA

This house is a perfect representation of a home during the Arts and Crafts movement of California. Built by William Sterling Hebbard and Irving Gill, this house was built for George W. Marston and his wife, Anna Gunn Marston. George W. Marston is known for his interest and work in historic preservation and for being a civic leader. Also “the Father of Balboa Park”, this house brings you back to the early 1900s and demonstrates the interest of the Marstons.

Warner-Carillo Rancho House
Hours: Saturday & Sunday, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Admission: Adults $5, Children (6-12) $4
Location: 29181 San Felipe Rd, Warner Springs CA (1 hr, 30 min from San Diego)

In 1857, this ranch was owned by a female rancher, Vincenta Carillo. It was a stage stop and the first regular stage connection to St. Louis in California. It is rich with the history of emigrant trail, overland stage, and prominent ranching history of California. The kids will surely enjoy the wide-open land and outdoors of the ranch history.

Whaley House
Hours: Sunday- Tuesday, 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM, Thursday- Saturday, 10:00 AM – 9:30 PM (starting the day after Labor Day through Memorial Day)
Admission: Adults $8, Children (6-12) $6; after 6:00 PM Adults $10, Children (6-12) $8
Location: 2476 San Diego Ave, San Diego CA

Dating back to 1857, this house was the first brick edifice in San Diego built by Thomas Whaley himself. The house and the land holds a lot more history than just that. It housed the Whaley family, was a granary, a county court house, San Diego’s first commercial theater, the Whaley General Store, a ballroom, a billiard hall, a school, and a polling place. Not only that, but it witnessed the seizure of court documents and records and the suicide of Violet Whaley.

The Whaley House was named the number one haunted house in the US by the American Travel Channel. It is said to be haunted by “Yankee Jim” (a convict killed before the house was built), Thomas and Anna Whaley, a random tenant, a young child said to have been a playmate of the Whaley children who died on the property, and more. For a private “after tour” starting at 10:00 PM, it’s a 2 person minimum starting at $75 a person for one hour (with a 3 hour tour limit).

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