San Dieguito Heritage Musuem, Encinitas, CA

We visited the San Dieguito Heritage Museum in Encintas, CA.  The museum preserves the local history of the San Dieguito River area including Leucadia, Encintas, Olivehain, Cardiff, Solana Beach, Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe.  It was a very interesting museum.  We learned about Native American Indians that lived in the area and saw a replica of what their homes were like then.  We learned how they prepared and stored their food.  We learned how the San Dieguito River area was also home to lima bean farms and a lot of flower fields which are now gone. They had a lima bean thresher on the grounds.  We also learned about how President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act in 1862 which grant people undeveloped land west of the Mississippi River.  This is how it works.  You would pick out some land.  You had to build at least a 12 x 14 foot structure on the property and live on it for 5 years.  After that you would get the title to 160 acres.  We saw a structure there of what a home would have looked like back then.  There were a lot of other historical things including a general store, an old cash register, surfing history, 1950 fire truck, a general store, a facade of what an old gas station looked like and the Teton house, the house of a turkey farmer from the area.  The girls got to make turkeys out of pine cones.  It was fun to learn some of the local history.