Santa Ysabel (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "St. Elizabeth") is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the Santa Ysabel Valley of eastern

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

History

The 1818

Santa Ysabel Asistencia The Santa Ysabel Asistencia was founded on September 20, 1818, at Cañada de Santa Ysabel in the mountains east of San Diego (near the village of Elcuanan), as a asistencia or "sub-mission" to Mission San Diego de Alcalá, and to serve as a re ...

is located here, a Spanish mission ''asistencia'' (sub-mission) of

Mission San Diego de Alcalá Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá (, lit. The Mission of Saint Didacus of Acalá) was the second Franciscan founded mission in the Californias (after San Fernando de Velicata), a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, C ...

. The town site is within the former Rancho Santa Ysabel, an 1844 Mexican land grant to José Joaquín Ortega and Eduardo Stokes. In 1878, what began as the town of Santa Ysabel began with a store owned by C. R. Wellington, and grew to include a hotel and a blacksmith.Lynne Newell Christenson, Ellen L. Sweet, 2008, ''Ranchos of San Diego County'', Arcadia Publishing, , pp.91-102 By June 26, 1889, it had acquired its own post office.

Today

The town is located near the

San Diego River The San Diego River is a 52 mi (84 km) river in San Diego County, California. It originates in the Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian, then flows to the southwest until it reaches El Capitan Reservoir, the second-largest reservo ...

, just north of the

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest is a National forest (United States), U.S. national forest in Southern California that encompasses 460,000 acres/ of inland Montane ecosystems, montane regions. It is approximately 60 miles from the Pacific Ocean, withi ...

at the junction of Highway 78 and Highway 79. Other notable sights of the small town include the famous Dudley's Bakery and the Julian Apple Pie factory. The town serves as a gateway to the mountain areas of San Diego County, including the

Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges in eastern San Diego County, California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the indigenous Kumey ...

, Julian, and

Palomar Mountain Palomar Mountain ( ; ) is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County, California. It is known as the location of Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for Palomar Mountain State Park. History The Luise� ...

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Santa Ysabel has a

warm-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Santa Ysabel, California
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References

Unincorporated communities in San Diego County, California Unincorporated communities in California {{SanDiegoCountyCA-geo-stub