Alvarado Adobe

What stands here is a 1978 replica. The adobe Jesús María Castro built for his widowed mother in 1842 was torn down in August 1954 for an expansion of the Alvarado Motel, after residents failed to raise the money to buy it. Juan Bautista Alvarado, the former governor who had married Martina Castro, retired to the rancho in 1848, wrote his Historia de California after her death in 1876, and died on the rancho in 1882. A 2023 burglary emptied the replica museum's Ohlone display. No plaque is cast here; a 1988 Lincoln Highway stone lies by the walk.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Woods National Monument — 13 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.
• Muir Beach Overlook — 15 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.
• Earthquake Trail — 25 mi
  A short loop along the San Andreas, where a broken fence shows how far Point Reyes moved in under a minute in 1906.

More markers nearby

• Site of Giant Powder Company (Point Pinole) — 2.4 mi
• Richmond Shipyards District — 3.5 mi
• Castro Home — 4.7 mi
• East Brother Light Station — 5.0 mi