Chapel of San Ramon

1875 was dry and there was no grass in the county, so Frederick Wickenden drove his sheep north until he found feed, walked them on to Redwood City and sold five thousand head at a dollar each. He spent the money on redwood, shipped it to Port Harford and teamed it up the canyon, and he, his brother-in-law Thomas Foxen and a carpenter from Los Alamos built the chapel his wife Ramona had been asked to provide. Her father Benjamin Foxen was reburied in its yard the next year.

What the plaque says

Chapel of San Ramon This redwood frame chapel, erected in 1875 by Frederick and Ramona Foxen Wickenden for area residents, illustrates the transition between the architecture of the old missions and the frame churches of the later American settlers. It is a unique example of the use of wood to create strong, simple forms that had formerly been executed in adobe. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 877 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the San Ramon Chapel Preservation Committee and the Santa Barbara County Historical Landmarks Advisory Committee, August 31, 1975.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• First Successful Cement Job — 13 mi
• La Purisima Mission — 16 mi
• Rancho Nipomo — 18 mi
• Mission Santa Inés — 18 mi