Trails
historic map

Six Trails Designated as Landmarks

In the 1970s, as agriculture and residential development expanded ever deeper and higher into Santa Barbara’s front country, there was concern about continued public access to the Santa Barbara trail system and the obliteration of existing trails by grading and construction. The historic trails were of particular concern, so a group of advocates appeared before the Santa Barbara County Historic Landmark Advisory Committee (HLAC) on September 8, 1977, to speak on behalf of protecting these trails by designating them as historic.

HLAC approved the petition to grant historic status to the trails mentioned, and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the resolution on October 24, 1977. The trails so dedicated were the Arroyo Burro Trail, the Rattlesnake Trail, the Hot Springs Trail, the Romero Canyon Trail, the Rincon Trail, and the Stagecoach/Slippery Rock/Fremont Trail in Goleta. The resolution also requested the State Historical Resources Commission to register the said historic trails by number and description either as “historical landmarks” or as “points of historic interest,” and to provide or cause to be provided appropriate plaques, markers, and directional signs therefore, as provided in Public Resources Code Sections 5021 to 5022.6, inclusive.

Visit the following links to read brief histories of each trail researched and written by historian Hattie Beresford:

We would like to thank Ms. Beresford for her excellent scholarship documenting the history of Santa Barbara County trails. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Dave Everett for locating and bringing to light the five-decade-old Landmark Trails Resolution in the County Archives.

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Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Resolution – Landmark Trails

Minutes of the Santa Barbara County Historical Landmarks Committee – Landmark Trails