The Dallidet Gardens on Pacific Street in San Luis Obispo are often rented out for weddings or other formal functions. As spring winds down it’s quite the beautiful venue, made all the more attractive by an new arch and brick stage completed by local Rotarian members last year.
Stewards of the property since 1953, the nonprofit San Luis Obispo County History Center, held their own event on the grounds May 21. Ostensibly held to celebrate their achievements over the year and officially report the election of new board members, the event began with recognition of a preservation effort to guard a local site 100 years older than Dallidet.
The History Center’s 2017 Preservation Award went to Lorie Laguna, chair of the Yak Tityu Tityu – Northern Chumash Tribe’s Aqueduct Preservation Committee.
Laguna was unable to attend but her niece, Kelsey Shaffer, accepted the award for the Committee.
Members of the committee in attendance, and the Tribe’s chairwoman, Mona Tucker, were diplomatic about the challenges faced in ensuring preservation of the stone and ceramic aqueduct structure underneath the Chinatown development project on Palm Street.
They declined to go into details about the behind the scenes talks that led to final agreement with the developer, the city and the tribe, but suffice to say it was, “a very emotional process,” involving legal action and that, “it was almost too late.”
Although the presence of some kind of site was known to area historians for years, it wasn’t until 2015 that folks got a look at the aqueduct, during a cultural resource study by local archaeological firm Applied Earthworks.
In announcing their award the History Center staff summed up what they know about the site, “almost certainly built by the Northern Chumash, possibly with the help of neighboring tribes, under direction from the Mission.”
It’s an important remnant of the era to them because, “the majority of the structures discovered near Monterey Street, including a Roman arch and the Mission lavandería, have already been covered by new construction.”
The committee was recognized for continued work with the City of San Luis Obispo and other preservation advocates for the protection of the site, although, with the hotel construction as yet incomplete, the final outcome has yet to be determined.
At the event History Center Executive Director Eva Ulz explained the importance of the work historians, archivists and preservationists do, “What matters at the end of our lives are the stories we’re able to pass on to our children and grandchildren and how well we’ve kept them.”
Receiving the award Shaffer noted, “The work isn’t always easy, especially on this project. We need people like my Aunt Lorie. Without her the aqueduct would not have been seen by the public.”
For information on upcoming events oat either the History Museum in the San Luis Obispo Carnegie Library or the Dallidet Adobe and Gardens go online: historycenterslo.org.
– Story and Photos by Camas Frank
