SDRP Sikes Adobe Restoration

TO FRIENDS, VOLUNTEERS, SUPPORTERS AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES: WITH GREAT REGRET WE ANNOUNCE THAT THE SIKES ADOBE HISTORIC FARMHOUSE WAS DESTROYED IN THE WITCH FIRE ON 10/23/07. CLICK HERE FOR POST-FIRE PICTURES. WE DO PLAN TO REBUILD.

The Sikes Adobe Farmhouse is a State Point of Historic Interest and a City of San Diego historic site that is being restored by the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority to its period of significance – the period from 1869 to 1899 – which is the time period when it was occupied by the Sikes family. From it we can learn what life was like for the pioneer settlers in San Diego shortly after statehood.

The Farmhouse was owned by the City of San Diego Water Department from 1925 to 2008 when it was purchased by the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority. Before purchasing the property, the JPA acted as caretaker for the historic site since the early 1990's.

The San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority hired a historic preservation architect team to prepare a Historic Structures Report. The team, led by IS Architecture, with subconsultants historians Stephen Van Wormer and Susan Walters, landscape historian Vonn Marie May, landscape architect Laura Burnett (of WRT), and photographer Philip Rittermann, produced an award-winning report that was honored by the California Preservation Foundation on February 8, 2003.

The San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority hired a contractor who was experienced with historic adobe restoration, Mark Sauer Contracting, Inc., to begin the restoration of the farmhouse interior and exterior. Restoration began the week of March 24, 2003, and was finished by the end of the 2003.

Docent tours of historic Sikes Adobe Farmstead have been suspended until the farmhouse is rebuilt.

If you are interested in becoming a trained Sikes docent, we would like to hear from you (858 674-2275 x 19). Trainees learn about the architectural history of the house, the history of the Sikes family, and the agricultural history of the late 1800’s. They also learn tips and techniques for being a docent, and theory of interpretation. In return, trainees commit to leading docent tours for the public. Docents help convey what the pioneer farm experience in Southern California was like, using the Sikes Adobe Farmhouse as the stage.

Long-Term Goals

Re-build and Re-open the Sikes Adobe Farmhouse as a house museum and educate the public about the pioneer farming experience via docent-led tours. (In process)
Create a “Friends of the Sikes Adobe” support and fund-raising group. (In process)
Furnish the Sikes Adobe Farmhouse with time- and context- appropriate furnishings, goods, decorative arts and clothing. (In Process)
Restore the creamery, corral, gardens, farm and expand the tours to encompass these elements. (On hold until rebuilding after the fire is completed.)

Short-Term Goals

The tasks to accomplish these goals are being undertaken now, and are intended to help us achieve the long-term goals.

The Sikes Family

Zenas Sikes' obituary says that he and his wife Eliza moved to Santa Clara from Ohio in a covered wagon after they married in 1853. However, our research indicates that this was not the case. Eliza, who was born in Ohio, moved to California with her stepmother Clarissa Burrell and arrived in January 1853. They came west around Cape Horn on the ship “Westward Ho” to join her stepfather Lyman Burrell who had come west overland in 1849 to become a gold miner. We know fewer details about how Zenas came west. His family has been documented back to Massachusetts in the 1600s, but they had moved to Michigan by 1837. At some time prior to 1853, Zenas, and probably two of his brothers, came to California. In July 1853, Zenas and Eliza married in California. In 1868 they purchased a 2,400 ½ acre portion of the former Rancho San Bernardo for $2,500. With their 6 children, they moved on their property by 1872 and built a one-room adobe structure to live in. Additional rooms in the Greek revival style, popular during the Victorian era, were soon added to the one room structure. These additions were of wood, not adobe. Based on letters written by Eliza Sikes, we know that the farmhouse reached its final outer dimensions by 1881.

Zenas Sikes died in surgery in April 1881 as a result of being kicked by a horse on his leg twice. Eliza used the insurance payments in part to remodel the house extensively and upgrade the furnishings. She also continued the wheat farming business. The family’s fortunes slowly declined in the decade after Zenas’ death. Wheat became less profitable as competition grew and the land became less fertile. The family began a dairy operation. The remains of the old creamery are still on the site. Debts piled up and in 1897 the property was sold to August Barnett for $10 to pay off the mortgages he held on the property. In 1917 the house was purchased, along with the buildings in the Bernardo community, as part of the Lake Hodges Dam project, initiated by Col. Ed Fletcher.

Above is an exterior shot of the adobe portion. A section inside has been left unrestored so visitors can see how it looked.

Above is a shot of the sitting room taken before the restoration, showing the brace holding the ceiling up. The fireplace was not added until sometime after 1900, so it was removed during the restoration because the "period of significance" was determined to be the period while the Sikes Family lived in the house, with the date of 1881 chosen because substantial information is available about the house's appearance at that time.

Above are the remains of the adobe creamery. This phase of the project did not include restoration of the creamery. That will be done in a subsequent phase, as will the landscaping and gardens.

Farming

The Sikes and their neighbors became founders of a community of pioneer farmers that settled the former Rancho Bernardo in the 1870s and developed the region into productive agricultural lands that supported a rural society. Settlement of the agricultural hinterland was critical to the infant city of San Diego. Farmers were desperately needed to feed the expanding urban population and provide markets for local business.

Farmers in the region prospered largely as a result of grain cultivation. During initial settlement, pioneer farmers needed a product that could be quickly and cheaply produced. Grains could be planted quickly with little initial investment and offered a quick cash return at the end of the season. Wheat was first planted on a large scale in the central valley during the late 1860’s. It became the largest and most profitable crop in California between 1860 and 1893. California winter wheat quickly gained the reputation as premium wheat by millers in England, Ireland and parts of Europe by the 1870’s. Known abroad as “California white velvet”, the wheat was harvested in the summer and could be shipped thousands of miles with little degradation. The quality was unusually hard and dry, making it suitable for long maritime transport around Cape Horn.

The Town of Bernardo

In this photo, dated in the early 1910's, the Town of Bernardo can be seen on the right. The Sikes Adobe Farmhouse is located under the cluster of trees in the middle left of the photo.

The Town of Bernardo was a small townsite located about 2,000 feet east of the Sikes Farmhouse on the main road between San Diego and the northern regions of present-day San Diego County. The town consisted of about a half-dozen buildings that included a general store, blacksmith shop and grange hall. The town served a community of about 400 people in outlying areas. The official founding of the community of Bernardo occurred on December 3, 1872 when a post office was established at the Sikes farmstead with Zenas Sikes as postmaster. Zenas Sikes was the first master of the Bernardo grange, a local chapter of a national fraternal association of farmers. The grange was also important in the social life of the community, organizing picnics and balls.

The general store at Bernardo was a landmark in the region for 40 years, serving as the main commercial outlet for Valley Center, Rincon del Diablo (present day Escondido), San Pasqual, Bernardo and Poway areas. The establishment of Escondido in the late 1880’s caused the gradual decline of the general store and the town.

Bernardo continued to exist as a community until the construction of the Lake Hodges Dam in 1918. By that time, the City of Escondido had become the dominant market town in northern San Diego County, and the site of the store and the post office (relocated to Bernardo in 1876) had been purchased as part of the Lake Hodges reservoir.

Research

The San Diego County Committee of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America provided initial assistance to the furnishing of the interior of the Farmhouse. The Colonial Dames researched additional history about the Sikes family and about interior furnishings known to have been owned by the family, and researched additional furnishings specific to this period, locale and income level. We are fortunate that extensive probate records for the Sikes family after Zenas Sikes’ death are available. The records give information about their household furnishings, the farm equipment, their grocery supplies, etc.

Interpretation

Six major themes have been identified for interpretation either in an Interpretive Center or at the Sikes Adobe Farmhouse.

Ron Hall, long-term River Park volunteer and Sikes Adobe docent, has authored a book entitled, "Ancestors and Descendants of Zenas Sikes, Jr." The proceeds from sales of the book were donated by Ron to the San Dieguito River Park for use at the Sikes Adobe Historic Farmhouse.

Perrin, whose research was on behalf of San Diego County Committee of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in California, was responsible for the breakthrough contact with Arthur M. Sikes, whose comprehensive family genealogy begins in 13th Century England and ends with Zenas Sikes' generation in late 1800s America. She was also responsible for a watershed of information about Eliza's Burrell's family history through the discovery of the "Burrell Letters" archived in Stockton, Calif.

If you have any leads on information relating to Sikes family history, or photographs of the family or site, please e-mail Ron Hall at RMHDELD@aol.com.

If you are interested in the Sikes Adobe Farmhouse project, and especially if you are interested in participating in a “Friends of Sikes Adobe” support and fundraising group, please email Anne Cooper at anne@sdrp.org or call her at 858 674-2275 x 19.

Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead

Sikes Adobe Mission Statement