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DISCOVER SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO IN THE OPEN-AIR


San Juan Capistrano’s citizens have long treasured the region’s rolling hills and verdant, desert landscape. Many times over, San Juan’s residents and leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to protecting the region’s natural environments—providing a critical safeguard for native plant and animal habitats while also preserving the traditions and pieces of history that laid the foundation of San Juan Capistrano.


THE PASSAGE OF TIME Te earliest locals, ancestors of


the native Juaneño and Gabrielino tribes, lived from the land—hunting, gathering and fishing for centuries from coast to mountain. When the Spanish arrived to Capistrano Valley in the 1770s, Franciscan missionary and founder of nine of Califor- nia’s 21 missions Padre Fermín de Francisco Lasuén sanctified a parcel of land as hallowed grounds for Mis- sion San Juan Capistrano. Te state’s first wine-producing


grapes were cultivated here a few years later. Fast forward more than 200 years and Mission gardeners continue to preserve these planting traditions. Te late-1700 and early- 1800s would see agricultural crops and herbs grown for community


nourishment, medicinal purposes and trade. Until the Mexican Indepen-


dence of 1821 steered a new San Juan, lands from Mission San Juan Capistrano to Mission San Gabriel— an area which now encompasses Orange County—were used by the church to herd and graze cattle, horses and sheep. Liberation from Spain, however, would see these lands divided between powerful men and families—officially usher- ing in the region’s rancho system. In the 1830s, with ranching


homesteads founded and livestock grazing along the fertile banks of San Juan Creek, a vast network of trails was created. Te miles of hillside trails connecting the valley’s ranchos remain today—30-plus


34 SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUSINESS DIRECTORY & VISITOR GUIDE VISITSJC.COM


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