Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds

This is Rumsen Ohlone country, which the bronze in front of the social hall does not say. The Young Women's Christian Association held its first conference here in August 1913, with nearly three hundred girls, on thirty acres from the Pacific Improvement Company. State Parks says the camp was first called Guardamar. The name that stuck came out of a naming contest, won by a Stanford student, Helen Salisbury, who joined two Spanish words, asilo and mar, refuge and sea. Julia Morgan designed sixteen buildings here between 1913 and 1929, and eleven still stand.

What the plaque says

Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds In 1913 the Young Women's Christian Association founded Asilomar as its first permanent conference grounds for the western United States. Constructed during a time of progressive social and political change for women in California and the United States, the YWCA chose architect Julia Morgan to design Asilomar's buildings and grounds. In 1952 a local "Save Asilomar" committee lobbied the YWCA and the State of California to preserve the property. Asilomar became a California State Park on July 1, 1956. State Registered Historical Landmark No. 1052 Registered February 7, 2014 Plaque placed by the Native Sons of the Golden West, the California State Parks Foundation, and California State Parks Dedicated 2014, the 150th anniversary of California State Parks

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Chautauqua Hall — 1.1 mi
• First Theater in California — 2.6 mi
• Soberanes Adobe — 2.7 mi
• Casa de Oro — 2.7 mi