250 Years Later, Big Sur Land Returned To Tribe: Report

BIG SUR, CA — A 1,200-acre property occupied by the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County 250 years ago has been returned to the tribe, Monterey County Weekly first reported.

The tribe had lived in the area for more than 6,000 years, but was decimated by disease and other causes after Spanish soldiers built a military base in Monterey and missions were erected along the coast, the tribe said on its website. The men were separated from their families "like cattle"and forbidden from speaking their native tongue or engaging in their cultural practices, Esselen Tribe said.

Some captured Esselen escaped the missions after the Mexican Revolution, the tribe said. And in 2019, their luck changed.

The tribe was awarded a $4.5 million grant by the state Natural Resources Agency, which allowed it to purchase the land commonly known as Adler Ranch, Monterey County Weekly reported. A year later, the Esselen Tribe closed escrow.

“It is beyond words for us, the highest honor,” Tom Little Bear Nason, chairman of the tribe, told the Bay Area News Group. “The land is the most important thing to us. It is our homeland, the creation story of our lives. We are so elated and grateful.”

The land will be a haven for tribal culture and ceremonies, Bay Area News Group reported. There will be a village, though no homes will be built on the land, and it will be a place for educating the public about the Esselen's history.

“We’re the original stewards of the land. Now we’re returned, Nason told Bay Area News Group. “We are going to conserve it and pass it on to our children and grandchildren and beyond.”

Read more from Monterey County Weekly and Bay Area News Group.