Site information:

On Vandergrift Blvd near Basilone Rd, Camp Pendleton

Camp Pendleton is an active Marine Base, and access is restricted.  There may be tours of this site which civilians can sign up for.

33.308064,-117.341329

Plaque information:

State plaque

Plaque text:

Santa Margarita Ranch

In July 1769, the Portola Expedition named this area for St. Margaret of Antioch. The Mission San Luis Rey 1827 Inventories list a small building in the area. In 1841, Rancho San Onofre Y Santa Margarita was granted to Andres and Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California. Land magnate Don Juan Forster owned the rancho from 1864-1882. Richard O'Neill and James Flood purchased 205, 000 acres in 1882. The ranch house stop served the 1882 transcontinental California Southern Railroad. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Marine Corps Base Camp Joseph H. Pendleton. The railroad line continued as a vital military transportation link before devastation by the 1993 flood.

Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the United States Marine Corps and the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, Squibob Chapter, April 25, 1998.

Registered 2/5/1998