The modern history of the Santa Ynez Valley is steeped in the Spanish heritage brought by the early missionaries but smack dab in the middle of the valley just a few miles east of Buellton is an incongruous snip of Denmark! In 1910 the Danish-American Colony Company was formed to assist in the immigration of Danes from the Midwest to the upper Santa Ynez Valley. The company purchased over 9,000 acres of the Santa Ynez land grant immediately adjacent to the old Mission St. Ines and established the town of Solvang (sunny valley in Danish) in 1911.
Solvang
The small town of Solvang grew slowly during the first half of the 20th Century, serving the farmers of the surrounding valley as a hub for various institutions designed to preserve the Danish heritage of the original founders. In 1947 the Saturday Evening Post magazine published a feature article about a “spotless Danish village that blooms like a rose in California’s charming Santa Ynez Valley” and the next stage in the development of Solvang began. A stream of tourists began to come to the town, which decided to capitalize on its new-found fame by featuring the look of a Danish village and today the town is visited by more than a million people each year. I have been to Solvang before and a visit requires strategic planning. While Hwy 101, the primary north/south highway in the area, passes about five miles west of Solvang in Buellton, Hwy 246 east from the freeway is a narrow two-lane highway as are all other approaches. During peak tourist time traffic can back up all the way from Solvang to the freeway five miles west. In addition, parking is very limited in Solvang but fortunately early in the morning in the middle of the week I can find street parking a couple of blocks off the main street. Without further words, here is a picture tour of Solvang.
Most of the buildings in the village core house shops, restaurants, wine tasting venues and art galleries. Directly cross the street from the line of Danish buildings pictured above is the back entrance to our next destination, the Mission Santa Ines.
Mission Santa Ines
The second Spanish mission in the valley, the Mission Santa Ines (not a typo, the mission uses the original spelling) was established in 1804 roughly at the mid-point between Mission Santa Barbara to the south and Mission La Purisima to the west. The original mission was destroyed in the earthquake of 1812 and the rebuilt mission was used until 1835 when, as with other Spanish missions, the mission was disbanded by the new Mexican government, though a land grant ensured that the seminary on site would operate up into the 1880’s. Today’s mission is the result of a 1947 restoration project funded by the Hearst Foundation and is still a working church. Much of the complex is not open to visitors.
The main façade of the mission faces east, ten of the arches that stretch to the left are original.
Once inside the complex a series of small rooms contain artifacts from various Spanish missions of Alta California.
An oasis of peace exists in the large courtyard area.
The landscaped courtyard is a remnant of the mission farms and once was the center of a large ranching operation. Records from 1812 show that the agricultural harvest produced 3,400 bushels of wheat, 3,000 of corn, 80 of beans, and 514 of peas. Other records from 1820 detail a large livestock operation that included 7,000 cattle, 5,000 sheep, 100 goats, 100 pigs, 120 mules, and 600 horses. The courtyard opens to the west where a large wisteria arbor leads to the mission cemetery.
A small enclosure contains my “new fact for the day.” I had no idea that asphalt was widely used by the Chumash Indians prior to the arrival of the missionaries and that it was a common flooring material of the time throughout the area. Remember those oil wells that we saw off shore around Santa Barbara? Turns out that natural oil seeps on land in the area gave natives access to the sticky black material. Here is a portion of the original floor of the seminary from the 1800’s.
Off the wisteria arbor is the entrance to the main church, still in use.
Stepping out of the chapel the long east façade stretches behind me. It is so long that I am unable to get all of it into one picture. To my left is most of the mission complex. The arch to the right of the bell tower is an entrance into the walled cemetery.
To my right one can see the wall of the cemetery and the wide open green space to the west. Look carefully in the distance at the townscape behind the far mission fence. That’s not Spanish revival architecture you’re looking at! It’s the eastern edge of Danish Solvang on the other side of the back wall and gate.
East of Solvang a couple of miles further up the valley is the small town of Santa Ynez, perched on a hill above the river bed and a remnant of the days when cattle ranching dominated the upper valley. Long ago eclipsed by its’ more important neighbors the hamlet clings to its western heritage along a couple of blocks.
An homage to horse country includes crosswalks decorated by imbedded horse shoes.
Solvang is crammed with shops, restaurants and most significantly within the last twenty years, wine tasting opportunities. The microclimates of the upper Santa Ynez Valley have recently come into demand by boutique vineyards growing a wide variety of grapes, depending on elevation, sun exposure, etc. The mission was an early center of wine production but after its decline the industry essentially ended. Then in 1962 Pierre Lafond created the modern wine industry in northern Santa Barbara County when he opened his small Santa Barbara Wintery. Others then began experimenting with various cooler-weather varietals like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay as well as warmer weather Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, depending on where in the valley they were. As I leave Santa Ynez and head north towards Los Olivos the San Rafael Mountains rise to the east above rolling hills dotted with vineyards.
Los Olivos
The true heart of the Santa Ynez wine country is the small village of Los Olivos. Founded in 1887 when the railroad came through the valley and named after a neighboring olive orchard, today Los Olivos is the very carefully created, charmingly shabby center of northern Santa Barbara horse and wine country. Numerous entertainment and political luminaries have found refuge in these hills over the years, and make sure your wallet is full before you step into one of the disarmingly simple restaurants or wine tasting rooms in the small six block village core. A war monument marks the center of town.
The Refugio Ranch Vineyard and Restaurant mark the northern end of the main street. There are over thirty wine tasting rooms in the six block stretch through the village.
I now jump back on Hwy 101 and head north, climbing through the mountains that border the north side of the Santa Ynez Valley.
Next up: Paso Robles
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