Branch Sites

Yucaipa Adobe

(Temporarily Closed)

Address

32183 Kentucky Street, Yucaipa, CA 92399
(909) 798-8608
Directions

Plan Your Trip Ahead

We suggest contacting the main museum at (909) 798-8608 to make sure this site is open on the day you would like to visit as we may experience temporary closures due to high winds or other factors during the year.

Hours

  • Tuesdays through Saturdays: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • Closed on all County-observed holidays
  • Group tours are by appointment

Admission Fees: No Cost

  • January 1 (New Year’s Day)
  • Third Monday in January (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
  • Third Monday in February (President’s Day)
  • Easter Sunday
  • Last Monday in May (Memorial Day)
  • June 19 (Juneteenth)
  • July 4 (Independence Day)
  • First Monday in September (Labor Day)
  • Second Monday in October (Columbus Day)
  • November 11 (Veterans Day)
  • Third Thursday in November (Thanksgiving Day)
  • Third Friday in November (Day after Thanksgiving)
  • December 24 (Day before Christmas)
  • December 25 (Christmas Day)December 31 (Day before New Year’s)

Before European contact, the site of the Yucaipa Adobe was occupied by the Serrano Indians. The marsh land, fed by springs, supported abundant vegetation and wildlife. In 1842, Antonio Maria Lugo received a grant of land in the San Bernardino and Yucaipa valleys from Mexican Governor Alvarado and established the San Bernardino Rancho. Diego Sepulveda, a cousin by marriage to the Lugo family, brought a herd of cattle from other ranchos and settled in the Yucaipa Valley.

Oral history and tradition attributed this adobe home to Diego Sepulveda. But historical and archaeological studies undertaken during restoration and seismic strengthening of the adobe in 1989-1990 provided a new interpretation. It is now believed that Diego Sepulveda’s adobe was located a few hundred yards away, near 16th and Dunlap Boulevard, and that James Waters, noted hunter, trapper, and mountaineer, built the Yucaipa Adobe in 1858-1859. Mr. Waters stocked his Yucaipa Rancho with sheep, driving herds as far as Arizona and Montana.

John Dunlap, a Texas cattleman, purchased the Yucaipa ranch in 1869. The Dunlap family moved into the adobe and used the land for grazing and for raising grain and alfalfa. The Dunlap family maintained ties to the ranch until the 1950s. By that time, most of the property had been sold.

In 1954, the Yucaipa Woman’s Club raised funds to save the deteriorated adobe dwelling from demolition. Eventually they gave the property to the County of San Bernardino to be administered as a part of the San Bernardino County Museum system. Today, members of the Yucaipa Valley Historical Society provide guided tours of the historic site once monthly.

The Yucaipa Adobe contains furnishings from the nineteenth century. Horse-drawn farm implements are exhibited outside the adobe. The exhibit was donated by the Haley and Melton families, early Yucaipa ranchers. The Lions Club of Yucaipa moved the farm implements to the site and organized the exhibit, which also includes a blacksmith shop.

An outside view of an old metal piece of farm equipment on a green lawn under a mature tree on the right.
An inside view of the main room inside the Adobe. A mantle is seen in the background with a rifle hanging above. a rocking chair is seen in the left-hand side and back of a couch that faces the fireplace. Steer horns are seen hanging above the rifle and a candle chandelier is seen hanging from the ceiling.
A view of a bedroom inside the Adobe. A fireplace is seen on the left-hand side and a sleigh bed is seen on the right-hand side of the room with a quilt blanket hanging from the footboard and a an old chest with tin canister is seen at the foot of the bed on the floor.