The photo above was taken in 1887 and appears in the book, Picturesque San Diego, which was published that year. The caption on the photo reads, “Santa Margarita Ranch House,-from the Vineyard.”

 Formally called Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores, the tract was the largest of the Mexican land grants and would continue to function as a working ranch for another 55 years until the entry of the United States into World War II would give it the name we know it by today: Camp Pendleton.

When I give lectures about Picturesque San Diego, my slide show includes that image of old Rancho Santa Margarita. Among all the photos and passages from the book that I present, that photo is one of the few on which audiences often make the connection between the rural photo and the name of the present-day location. That may be at least partly a tribute to the Camp Pendleton Historical Society. Their most recent newsletter offered up a surprising fact about the man for whom the base is named, Major General Joseph H. Pendleton, USMC: “Surprisingly, except for hundreds of signs featuring his name, there is no public display of him as a person.”

The society has inaugurated a project to erect a permanent monument to General Pendleton on base grounds. Click on the link below to learn more about the project and the life of the man who helped to secure a permanent presence for the U.S. Marines in San Diego: