Rancho Piedra Blanca

Rancho Piedra Blanca was a large, 48,806-acre (197.51 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day San Luis Obispo County, California given in 1840 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José de Jesús Pico.

The grant extended south along the Pacific Coast below Big Sur from Ragged Point to Pico Creek (formerly Arroyo del Pinal), where it adjoins Rancho San Simeon.

Originally part of the Mission San Miguel coastal grazing land, the eleven square league Rancho Piedra Blanca was granted to Pico in 1840.

[3] With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored.

In 1865, George Hearst (1820 – 1891), a successful miner during the California Gold Rush era and later a US Senator, started to acquire land in the area.

Hearst Ranch , looking down the access road from Hearst Castle to Highway 1 and San Simeon ; wooded peninsula is San Simeon Point
Pacific coast on the old Rancho Piedra Blanca, with Piedras Blancas Light Station in background.