Cambria

History

Ancestors of today's Chumash and Salinan peoples lived along the Cambria–San Simeon coast for thousands of years. They used resources from both the shore and inland valleys, including fish, shellfish, game, and seeds, and traded for materials unavailable locally. The coast around Cambria lies in a region where researchers have placed the transition between Northern Chumash and Salinan languages and cultures. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence does not establish a single fixed boundary; proposed boundaries differ, and researchers have suggested that they shifted over time. Spanish colonization and the establishment of missions changed Indigenous subsistence and land use. Mission livestock damaged some native plant communities along this part of the coast. The Portolá expedition camped beside Santa Rosa Creek in 1769, near the later site of Coast Union High School. During the mission period, the Cambria area was used for grazing. In 1841, Governor Juan Alvarado granted Rancho Santa Rosa, which included Cambria, to Julián Estrada. Erwin Gudde records that the names Santa Rosa and Rosaville were also suggested, the town having been built on Rancho Santa Rosa. The name Cambria was officially adopted in 1870. Gudde notes that the new name appears in a letter of November 18, 1870, and that the von Leicht–Craven map of 1874 still showed both Cambria and Santa Rosa. A different account, published by Roland Dickison in the journal Names in 1968, attributes the name to a Welsh carpenter named Llewellyn, who used Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, on his shop sign. Mercury mining in the surrounding mountains began in 1862. The Oceanic Mine, inland along Santa Rosa Creek, began operations in 1865 and expanded in 1875. Production stopped when prices fell in 1882, but the…

Geography

Cambria lies in the Santa Rosa Creek valley. Cambria's Monterey pine forest is one of three native populations on the California mainland; the others are at Point Año Nuevo and the Monterey Peninsula. Two additional native populations occur on the Mexican islands of Cedros and Guadalupe.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Cambria Grammar
  Elementary · Cambria · 207 students · 15.9:1 ratio
• Coast Union High
  High · Cambria · 149 students · 9.3:1 ratio
• Santa Lucia Middle
  Middle · Cambria · 121 students · 13.4:1 ratio
• Leffingwell High (Continuation)
  High · Cambria · 11 students