page_title: Point Lobos
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Point Lobos / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Plot map of planned Point Lobos City, September 1890
context_page_description: Point Lobos and the Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is the "crown jewel" of California's 280 state parks. Australian-born landscape artist Francis McComas described the point as the "greatest meeting of land and water in the world." Adjoining Point Lobos is "one of the richest marine habitats in California." The ocean habitat is protected by two marine protected areas, the Point Lobos State Marine Reserve and Point Lobos State Marine Conservation Area. The sea near Point Lobos is considered one the best locations for scuba diving on the Monterey Peninsula and along the California coast.
  Point Lobos is just south of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, United States, and at the north end of the Big Sur coast of the Pacific Ocean. Point Lobos features a number of hiking trails, many alongside the ocean, and a smaller number of beaches. The historic Whalers Cabin, built by Chinese fishermen and later used by Japanese and Portuguese fishermen, is now a museum.
  Point Lobos nearly became the site of a town. In 1896, the Carmelo Land and Coal Company subdivided the land into 1,000 lots and named the new town "Carmelito".
context_section_description: The Ohlone people harvested shellfish including abalone from the waters around Point Lobos. Evidence has been found of a long-term village named Ichxenta, in a meadow near San Jose Creek adjacent to Point Lobos, that indicates the natives inhabited the area for about 2,500 years. The village meadow is currently known as the Polo Field. There are 19 midden sites within Point Lobos and five sites containing mortar holes used by the natives for grinding acorns and seeds.
  It's likely that Sebastian Viscaino or some of his soldiers, who camped near the mouth of the Carmel River in 1602–03, may have visited the area to the south. Gaspar de Portolà and his exploring party camped at San Jose Creek in October 1769. Sergeant Jose Francisco Ortega conducted a study of the coast south of the Carmel River. In about 1770, Spanish Vaqueros from nearby Carmel Mission ran large herds of cattle in the area near Point Lobos.
  Ichxenta was likely occupied until near the end of the Carmel Mission era, when the native population was decimated by disease, starvation, overwork, torture, and forced assimilation.
caption: Plot map of planned Point Lobos City, September 1890
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