Historical Marker · No. 104
Site of Indian Village of Pochea
Hemet, Riverside County · California
Erected by State Department of Parks and Recreation, San Jacinto Valley Museum, Hemet Area Museum Assoc., Ramona Pageant Assoc. Billy Holcomb Chapter No. 1069, E Clampus Vitus/Second Marker by D.A.R., 1983
Pochea was one village in Pahsitnah, a settlement strung along the ridge either side of this hill, and the plaque introduces its ending with the words a tragic story tells. That is a hedge, and an epidemic does not need one. Smallpox arrived with the Spanish in the 1770s and Pahsitnah emptied. Survivors went north across the San Jacinto River, and their descendants are there now as the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, whose own greeting is written in two languages, Luiseño and Cahuilla. The pageant marker a few steps away tells a story about them instead.
Where it stands
33.71990, -116.94940 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Palm Springs — 25 miCahuilla homeland, checkerboard reservation, mid-century playground, and the square mile the city burned.
More markers nearby
- Ramona Bowl, Site of the Ramona Pageant — steps away
- Soviet Transpolar Landing Site — 4.3 mi
- Hemet Maze Stone — 7.5 mi
- Saahatpa — 17 mi