Cambria, on California’s Central Coast, is one of those special destinations. It offers a spectacular coastline with an abundance of cliff-side trails, verdant hills and valleys ideal for cattle ranching, vineyards and open-air landscape painting.
Architecturally Cambria features a remarkable collection of original 19th-century salt-box homes and an early 20th-century downtown district known as East Village. Sadly, many visitors pass right through Cambria on State Highway 1, anxious to get to San Simeon and the Hearst Castle. It’s a shame because Cambria is a worthy destination on its own.
Ancestral home to the Chumash Native Americans, Cambria’s Spanish colonial history dates back to the 16th century. But the area itself first garnered attention in 1769, when the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola, on his way to San Francisco, camped by its rushing creek and noted it in his journal….