The Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio ("Ranch of Our Lady of Refuge") was a 74,000-acre (300 km2) Spanish land grant to José Francisco Ortega in 1794 and is the only land grant made under Spanish and confirmed by USA in 1866 to Jose Maria Ortega under the US Supreme Court rule in what is today Santa Barbara County, California.
The first land expedition to California, led by Gaspar de Portolà, camped at today's Tajiguas Creek on August 23, 1769, on its way to Monterey Bay.
Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi, who accompanied the expedition, noted the presence of two native towns, facing each other across the creek, near the ocean—similar to the arrangement found the previous day at Dos Pueblos.
[8] The first sale of lands belonging to Rancho Nuestra Senora del Refugio to non-family members, the Gaviota Ranch, occurred in 1858.
Privateers under Hippolyte Bouchard burned the original ranch buildings at Refugio Canyon in 1818, but the adobes at Arroyo Hondo and Canada del Corral still remain.