Los Coches Adobe

The Los Coches Adobe, vacant for several decades now, sits alongside Highway 101 in a part of Soledad that lays claim to the Soledad Mission and has a story that is integrally associated with the people of Soledad, past and present. Originally built as a Rancho in 1843, Los Coches’ most continual contribution to the area was as a Wells Fargo Station Agent office, post office, stage coach stop and inn. From 1854 until 1868, the Adobe became a popular inn and stagecoach stop for passengers of the Bixby Overland Stage, running between San Francisco and Los Angeles.  On December 20, 1872, the railroad reached Soledad connecting the region to San Francisco and creating an important stopover for travelers. Until 1886, Soledad was the terminus for the railroad and there was a turntable located at the end of town, on which the train was turned around for its return trip north. The planned preservation project hopes to rehabilitate this historic transportation facility, as well as to establish a museum that will include transportation related exhibits and serve as a visitor’s center for the Monterey Peninsula. Future plans also include a walking trail on the property for pedestrians with educational markers interpreting Salinas Valley agriculture surrounding the Adobe, along with landscaping and other scenic beautification. Once rehabilitated, the Adobe will house exhibits contributing to the knowledge and understanding of local ethnic history, as well as a pictorial history of the site’s importance as the terminus of the railroad and coach line. Here you may see a ghostly lady in black walking the grounds, and hear the screams of trapped miners coming from the old well.