Hands-on history

Children and local history buffs learned how to make adobe bricks out of straw and mud and watched leather workers make tool belts and key chains at the Diego Sepulveda Adobe as part of Early California Days on Saturday.

The annual event sponsored by the Costa Mesa Historical Society was a chance this year to show of recent renovations at the nearly 200-year-old adobe.

“It’s a good event for public education and raising awareness of local history,” said Terry Shaw, vice president in charge of programs for the Costa Mesa Historical Society.

The adobe, which was once a way station for herdsmen tending to cattle and sheep from Mission San Juan Capistrano, got a face lift earlier this year with newly refinished tile floors and a fresh coat of whitewash.

The city of Costa Mesa paid for a new, red tile roof and some electrical work at the adobe.

The historical society pitched in about $5,000 to refinish the tile flooring inside the adobe, freshen up the whitewashed walls and refurbish some display cases.

“We wanted to clean everything up and just make it fresh again,” said Joe Perry, president of the Costa Mesa Historical Society. “The whitewashed walls get a little dingy over the years.”

The adobe has changed hands several times over the years.

After the mission period, Diego Sepulveda, a former alcalde, or traditional Spanish judge, took over the building around 1868. The adobe eventually fell into the hands of South Coast Plaza developers the Segerstrom family in 1940.

The Segerstroms donated the adobe and its five-acre site to the city of Costa Mesa in 1963.

The Costa Mesa Historical Society was formed during major renovations at the adobe in 1966.

Saturday’s event included exhibits on traditional crafts like leather working and weaving, which would have been practiced around the time the adobe was inhabited by early Californians.

“I look around and I think everyone here is having a good time and learning a little about history,” Shaw said.

Just The Facts

 Local historians believe the adobe was built between 1817 and 1823.

 The small adobe with a tar and tule roof was built to shelter herdsmen who watched after cattle and horses from Mission San Juan Capistrano.

 The building is the oldest structure still standing in Costa Mesa and the second oldest in Orange County.