Jolon, California

{{Short description|Unincorporated community in California, United States}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox settlement   | name = Jolon | other_name = | native_name = | nickname = | settlement_type =Unincorporated community | image_skyline = {{Photomontage | photo1a = Mission San Antonio de Padua modern (cropped).jpg | photo2a = Milpitas Hacienda1 (cropped).jpg | photo2b = The Hacienda (cropped).jpg | spacing = 2 | position = center | color_border = white | color = white | size = 260 | foot_montage = Top: Mission San Antonio de Padua <br> Bottom: Hacienda Milpitas }} |image_caption = |pushpin_map =California |pushpin_label_position =bottom |pushpin_mapsize = |pushpin_map_caption =Location in California  |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name =United States |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = California |subdivision_type2 =County |subdivision_name2 = Monterey County |subdivision_type3 = |subdivision_name3 = | |established_title =  |established_date = |coordinates = {{coord|35|58|15|N|121|10|34|W|region:US-CA|display=inline,title}} |elevation_footnotes = <ref name=gnis>{{gnis|274725}}</ref> |elevation_m =296 |elevation_ft =971 |footnotes = }}

'''Jolon''' ({{IPAc-en|h|oʊ-|ˈ|l|oʊ|n}}; Spanish: ''Jolón'';<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.elheraldocatolico.org/ehnew/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/0216_heraldo.pdf |title=El Heraldo Católico Vol. 38 • No.2 |access-date=October 10, 2021 |archive-date=October 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010020339/http://www.elheraldocatolico.org/ehnew/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/0216_heraldo.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Salinan: ''Xolon'') is a small unincorporated village in southern Monterey County, California.<ref name=gnis /> Jolon is located on the San Antonio River Valley, west of Salinas Valley and is entirely surrounded by Fort Hunter Liggett.

The origins of Jolon date to 1771, when the Spanish established Mission San Antonio de Padua, under the command of Saint Junípero Serra. The town was officially founded by Californios in 1849, when Antonio Ramírez built an inn as a stop on El Camino Real.

== Name == The name ''Xolon'' means "valley of dead trees" in the Salinan language.<ref name=gudde>{{cite book |last1=Gudde |first1=Erwin Gustav |title=California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names |date=1960 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |page=159 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/California_Place_Names/M-22djGNuhwC |access-date=27 August 2025}}</ref>

==History== [[File:Mission_San_Antonio_de_Padua_as_drawn_by_Edward_Vischer,_June_26,_1873.jpg|thumb|left|The Spanish founded Mission San Antonio de Padua in 1771, under the command of Saint Junípero Serra.]] Before European contact, the Salinan people lived in the region.<ref name=gudde/>

===Spanish period=== The Spanish Portolá expedition, led by Gaspar de Portolá, camped on the San Antonio River near modern-day Jolon on September 24, 1769, having crossed the Santa Lucia Range from the coast. The party continued north through Jolon Valley.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000288788|title=Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1774|last=Bolton|first=Herbert E.| publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library|year=1927|pages=190–194 |access-date=1 April 2014}}</ref>

Mission San Antonio de Padua was established two years later in 1771, under the direction of Junípero Serra, head of the mission system in California. [[File:Dutton Hotel in Jolon (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|The Dutton Hotel in 1890. It was originally built in 1849 by Antonio Ramírez, the founder of Jolon.]]

When the mission lands were secularized, the lands of the Mission San Antonio de Padua were by law intended to be granted to the indigenous people. In practice, that rarely occurred. The mission lands were divided into several land grants in the Jolon area: * Rancho Milpitas — (Little Gardens) * Rancho San Miguelito — (Little St. Michael) * Rancho El Piojo — (The Louse) * Rancho Posa de los Ositos — (Pool of the Little Bears) * Rancho San Miguelito de Trinidad — * Rancho Los Ojitos

===Mexican period=== The Mexican secularization act of 1833 was devastating to Mission San Antonio de Padua, reducing its population from 1,300 in 1805 to under 150 in 1834.<ref name=cmrc>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180824060731/http://missionscalifornia.com/mission-facts/san-antonio-de-padua "San Antonio de Padua", California Missions Resource Center]}}</ref> Following the mass exodus of Mission Indians from the mission, the small community was practically deserted, making Mission San Antonio de Padua the only mission not to grow into a town during the Spanish or Mexican periods.

In 1845, Governor Pío Pico declared all mission buildings in Alta California for sale, but no one bid for Mission San Antonio.

===American period=== [[File:View of Hacienda Milpitas (Hearst Estate) in Jolon (cropped).png|thumb|left|Hacienda Milpitas was built in 1930 as a country estate for William Randolph Hearst and designed by famed architect Julia Morgan.]] [[File:Mission San Antonio de Padua Jolon.jpg|thumb|right|Mission San Antonio in 2020]] The town was founded by Antonio Ramírez, who built an inn at the place in 1850.<ref name=CGN>{{California's Geographic Names|910}}</ref> The Jolon post office was founded in 1872.<ref name=CGN /> The inn later became a major Stagecoach Station on the route for travelers between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The hotel changed owners several times before 1876, when H.C. Dodge sold it to Lt. George Hough Dutton (1825–1905) for $1,000 and 100 acres. Dutton added a second adobe story, wood-frame structures at either end, called the Dutton Hotel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 14, 1971.<ref name="Fink">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=do8gAQAAIAAJ&q=Berwick |title=Monterey County: The Dramatic Story of its Past |last=Fink |first=Augusta |date=2000 |page=160 |publisher= Valley Publishers |isbn=9780913548622 |access-date=2020-07-19 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=DeMars |first=E. W. |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: Dutton Hotel, Stage Coach Station - Jolon |url={{NRHP url|id=71000166}} |publisher=National Park Service |date=1970-12-01 |access-date=2013-11-08}}</ref> In 1890, Captain Thomas Theodore Tidball, a friend of Dutton, established the Tidball Store, also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Seavey |first=Kent L.|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form: Tidball Store |url={{NRHP url|id=76000503}} |publisher=National Park Service |date=1976-12-12 |access-date=2021-10-17}}</ref>

In the early 1920s William Randolph Hearst bought up thousands of acres in the rolling foothills of the Santa Lucia mountains east of Hearst Castle near San Simeon on California's Central Coast.<ref>[https://archive.today/20111006172333/http://members.montereyinfo.org/thehacienda/ The Hacienda]</ref> He sent his architect, Julia Morgan, to the eastern side of the range, near Mission San Antonio, to design and oversee the building of a hacienda-style headquarters for the expansion of his ranching operation. The building was called the Hacienda Milpitas Ranchhouse, or simply the Hacienda.

Hearst sold his rancho to the U.S. Army in 1940. In preparation for World War II, the army established Fort Hunter Liggett as an important training center for the West Coast, still in operation today.

==Geography== [[File:The Hacienda western face (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The Hacienda Hotel, located inside of Fort Hunter Liggett]] Jolon is located in the San Antonio River Valley of southern Monterey County, inland on the Central Coast of California.

===Climate=== This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 74.4 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Jolon has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.<ref>[http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=417740&cityname=Jolon%2C+California%2C+United+States+of+America&units= Climate Summary for Jolon, California]</ref>

{{Weather box |location = Jolon |single line = Y |Jan high F = 63.2 |Feb high F = 66.2 |Mar high F = 68.9 |Apr high F = 74.8 |May high F = 78.4 |Jun high F = 83.0 |Jul high F = 85.1 |Aug high F = 85.2 |Sep high F = 85.0 |Oct high F = 79.9 |Nov high F = 69.4 |Dec high F = 63.2 |year high F = 75.2 |Jan mean F = 50.2 |Feb mean F = 53.3 |Mar mean F = 55.5 |Apr mean F = 59.0 |May mean F = 62.7 |Jun mean F = 66.6 |Jul mean F = 69.0 |Aug mean F = 68.1 |Sep mean F = 68.8 |Oct mean F = 63.2 |Nov mean F = 54.8 |Dec mean F = 49.7 |year mean F = 60.1 |Jan low F = 37.2 |Feb low F = 40.3 |Mar low F = 42.1 |Apr low F = 43.1 |May low F = 46.9 |Jun low F = 50.2 |Jul low F = 52.9 |Aug low F = 53.1 |Sep low F = 51.2 |Oct low F = 46.5 |Nov low F = 40.1 |Dec low F = 36.1 |year low F = 45.0 |rain colour = green |Jan rain inch = 2.35 |Feb rain inch = 2.65 |Mar rain inch = 2.49 |Apr rain inch = 0.74 |May rain inch = 0.24 |Jun rain inch = 0.07 |Jul rain inch = 0.01 |Aug rain inch = 0.05 |Sep rain inch = 0.25 |Oct rain inch = 0.55 |Nov rain inch = 1.23 |Dec rain inch = 1.67 |year rain inch = 12.30 |Jand sun=10.5 |Febd sun=11.4 |Mard sun=12.4 |Aprd sun=13.6 |Mayd sun=14.6 |Jund sun=15.1 |Juld sun=14.8 |Augd sun=13.9 |Sepd sun=12.8 |Octd sun=11.7 |Novd sun=10.7 |Decd sun=10.2 |yeard sun=12.6 |source 1 = Weather For You <ref name="Jolon, California (93928) Climate Normals">{{cite web | url = https://www.weatherforyou.com/reports/index.php?forecast=norms&zipcode=93928&pands=&place=jolon&state=ca&country=us&day=all%2Cmonth&month=12 | title = Jolon, California (93928) Climate Normals | publisher = | access-date = }}</ref> |source 2 = Weatherbase <ref name="Climate Summary for Jolon, California">{{cite web | url = http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=417740&cityname=Jolon%2C+California%2C+United+States+of+America&units= | title = Climate Summary for Jolon, California | publisher = | access-date = }}</ref> |date=April 2022 }}

==Popular culture== Jolon is mentioned in the folk ballad "South Coast," popularized by the Kingston Trio on their 1959 album ''...from the "Hungry i"''. It is imagined as a place where, back in the Spanish frontier days, one could gamble.[http://www.uplyrics.com/kingston_trio_the_lyrics_4294/south_coast_lyrics_157706.html]

Jolon is also the setting for John Steinbeck's novel ''To a God Unknown''. The town is not mentioned in the book but is the basis for the fictional town in the book.

It is mentioned in a YA novel titled, “Maria-A Christmas Story” written by Theodore Taylor.

==References== {{reflist}}

===Further reading=== *{{Cite journal| volume = 10| pages = 116–120| last1 = Allen| first1 = Rebecca| last2 = Hildebrand| first2 = Karen| title = Using Oral History to Expand Knowledge of Late 19th and Early 20th-Century Ranching in the Jolon and King City Area, Monterey County| journal = Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology| date = 1997|url=http://scahome.org/publications/proceedings/Proceedings.10Allen1.pdf}}

==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}}

Category:Unincorporated communities in Monterey County, California Category:1850 establishments in California Category:Santa Lucia Range Category:Unincorporated communities in California Category:Populated places in the United States established in 1850