Oak Grove Stage Station
The Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach service operated from 1858 to 1861 between San Francisco and the two eastern termini, St. Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee. The Oak Grove Stage Station, near Warner Springs, is one of the few, if not the only station still standing on the entire route. It was a stop between Los Angeles and Fort Yuma on the San Francisco to St. Louis route. The Civil War disrupted the Butterfield services and the Oak Grove building was used as a hospital for nearby Camp Wright and other purposes later. The original ranchhouse is a well-preserved one-story adobe building among California oak woodlands that is a California Historical Landmark, a U.S. National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Warner Springs, San Diego County
Photographer: Jeanne Roberts