Historical Marker · No. 821
Morro Rock
Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo County · California
Erected by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce and the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society, 1968
The causeway you drive out on is the rock itself. From 1889 to 1969 the Army Corps of Engineers blasted this volcanic plug for breakwater stone at Morro Bay and Port San Luis, and for the road that turned an island into a headland. Lisamu' to the Chumash and Le'samo to the Salinan, it is sacred to both, and elders alive today do not recognize its shape. In 2022 the Corps carried stone back from the Port San Luis breakwater and set it in the water beside it.
What the plaque says
Morro Rock An important mariner's navigational landfall for over 300 years. Chronicled in the diaries of Portolá, Fr. Crespí and Costañsó in 1769 when they camped near this area on their trek to find Monterey. Sometimes called the "Gibraltar of the Pacific." It is the last in the famous chain of nine peaks which start in the city of San Luis Obispo. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 821 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce and the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society. May 26 1968
Where it stands
35.37054, -120.86499 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Site of Ah Louis Store — 13 mi
- Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa — 13 mi
- Dallidet Adobe — 13 mi
- Atascadero Administration Building — 14 mi