The history of the land on which The Preserve is situated closely matches the history of California itself. First settled by the Rumsen Ohlone Native Americans, the land fell under Spanish control once colonists arrived and established the Presidio of Monterey and the Carmel Mission in the mid-1700’s. The Rumsen people were Christianized and incorporated into the colony as neophytes and forced laborers, and in the early 1800's the land was parceled out through Mexico’s system of land grants as two distinct ranchos: El Potrero San Carlos and The San Francisquito. The ranchos were each bought and sold over the years, until they were combined into San Francisquito y San Carlos by new owner James Sargent in the 1800’s. It was during this period that author Robert Louis Stevenson fell ill while on a camping trip and was nursed back to health in a cabin on the property, the ruins of which remain today. Sargent’s brother managed the land as a cattle ranch, before it was bought and renamed to Rancho San Carlos by George Gordon Moore, a 1920’s socialite and friend to nearby newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Rather than a working ranch, Moore outfitted the land with polo grounds, an 11-bedroom hacienda, a stocked 18-acre lake, and imported Russian boars for sport hunting. Despite recent unsubstantiated claims that Moore inspired the literary character of Jay Gatsby, Moore's polo team the San Carlos Cardinals featured polo star Tommy Hitchcock Jr., who did inspire the character of Tom Buchanan. With the market crash and Great Depression, Moore was forced to sell the estate to the Oppenheimer family, who returned the land to its ranching roots and also used the property as a family retreat for half a century.