Villa de Branciforte (Santa Cruz, California)

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The area around N. Branciforte Ave was the third of three Spanish Colonial civilian settlements established in Alta California. The other two settlements were Los Angles and San Jose. The Villa was established in 1797, but didn't become a really stable settlement until the 1820's. In 1907 Villa de Branciforte was annexed into the City of Santa Cruz.

Today there are few obvious elements of this settlement left. The most prominate feature remaining from the orginal settlement are the roads of N.Branciforte and Soquel, both of which have been featured on maps since the 1850'3 - and probably existed before that point. Secondly there is still a standing adobe house on the end of N. Branciforte Ave.
A more subtle reminders of this bygone age are the names of streets and property boundaries. The placement of property boundaries and streets often reflect the splitting up of farms in the orginal settlement into there present lots.