San Pasqual Valley, San Diego

Coordinates: 33°05′03.15″N 117°01′03.11″W / 33.0842083°N 117.0175306°W / 33.0842083; -117.0175306 San Pasqual Valley is the northernmost community of the city of San Diego.[1] It is named for the Kumeyaay village of San Pasqual that was once located there. It is bordered on the north by the city of Escondido, on the east and west by unincorporated land within San Diego County, and on the south by the city of Poway and the community of Rancho Bernardo. San Pasqual Valley is home to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

State Highway 78 runs through the valley between Escondido and Ramona. The valley is part of the Santa Ysabel Creek watershed, which drains into the San Dieguito River.

History

The wagon road from Warner's Ranch to San Diego passed through San Pasqual Valley on its way between Santa Ysabel Asistencia and Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos. In 1846, during the Mexican-American War, this road led to the Battle of San Pasqual being fought in the valley near the site of the Kumeyaay village of San Pasqual. On December 6 and December 7, 1846, the Californios, led by General Don Andrés Pico, fought Stephen W. Kearny's column of 140 U.S. Army troops as they descended from the Santa Maria Valley into the valley near San Pasqual on their way from Warner's Ranch to San Diego. Subsequently, it was the road into San Diego County from the Southern Emigrant Trail.

From 1857 to 1860 this same wagon road was part of the 125-mile stagecoach road for the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line between Carrizo Creek Station and San Diego. San Pasqual village was a way station on that road 28 miles from Santa Ysabel and 16 miles from Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos.[2]

Places of interest

Much of the valley is part of the San Pasqual Valley Agricultural Preserve, and home to citrus, avocado, and dairy farms. It includes the San Pasqual Valley AVA, an area designated an American Viticultural Area by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The valley experiences very hot days and ocean-cooled nights.[3]

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, formerly named the San Diego Wild Animal Park, occupies 1,800 acres (7 km2) in the valley.

The San Pasqual and Clevenger Canyon Open Space Park is located at the eastern end of the valley.[4]

The residential area located in the mountains that border the valley, near the agricultural preserve is officially named as Rancho San Pasqual. Locals often refer to it as "Eagle Crest", the name of the 18-hole golf course that surrounds the neighborhood.

References

  1. ↑ San Diego Community Profile
  2. ↑ San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line Stations and Mileage between them, from the newspaper article by a traveler to the Gadsden Purchase printed in the Sacramento Daily Union, 11 January 1858, p.4: A TRIP TO THE GADSDEN PURCHASE
  3. ↑ San Pasqual Valley AVA
  4. ↑ San Dieguito River Park Home
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