Old Temescal Road

Tongva and Payómkawichum walked this line between villages before anyone thought to measure it. Serrano settled on it in 1820, Jackson and Warner rode it in 1831 and Frémont in 1848; gold seekers took it as the southern emigrant road from 1849; the Overland Mail ran it from 1858 to 1861 and the Army held it as a military road between Los Angeles and San Diego through the Civil War. One alignment, six uses in a century, and the state's 1959 plaque wore out and was recut in granite in 2013.

What the plaque says

This route was used by Luiseño and Gabrieleño Indians, whose villages were nearby. Leandro Serrano established a home here in 1820. Jackson and Warner traveled the road in 1831, and Frémont in 1848. It was the southern emigrant road for gold seekers from 1849 to 1851, the Overland Mail route from 1858 to 1861, and a military road between Los Angeles and San Diego from 1861 to 1865.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wigwam Motel — 25 mi
  Nineteen concrete teepees on Foothill Boulevard, the last of Frank Redford's Wigwam Villages and still renting rooms.

More markers nearby

• Serrano Boulder — 0.5 mi
• Ruins of Third Serrano Adobe — 1.0 mi
• Serrano Tanning Vats — 1.0 mi
• Butterfield Stage Station — 3.9 mi