Our beautiful community is nestled in the foothills with a variety of scenic views: acres of avocado and lemon orchards, sand dunes bordering the ocean, stately rows of eucalyptus trees providing windbreaks and fuel for fireplaces and rolling hills of beautiful California Oaks.The community of Nipomo (ME), located in the southern end of San Luis Obispo County on the beautiful Central Coast of California, is on a coastal mesa averaging an elevation of 380 feet above sea level. Traveling Highway 101, Nipomo is located mid-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco, 7 miles south of Arroyo Grande and 7 miles north of Santa Maria. Nipomo (ME) is located at the foot of the hills of the Temetate Ridge. Appropriately, the name Nipomo is derived from the Chumash Indian word " Nepomah", meaning "the foot of the hills".
THEN . . .
The Chumash Indians had lived in this area for over 9,000 years, unknown to the Europeans until the coming of the Spanish in the 1700’s. Rancho Nipomo, consisting of 38,000 acres, was granted in 1837 to William G. Dana, a Boston sea captain. The founder of present day Nipomo, Captain William Goodwin Dana, was born in the eastern U.S. and led an adventurous life on the high seas in his youth. His travels led him to California where he married Maria Josefa Carrillo, the daughter of a leading early California family. Casa de Dana, the 13-room adobe home that Dana and the mission Indians built in 1839, still stands on South Oakglen Avenue.
