Hastings Adobe

Lansford W. Hastings, an Ohio Lawyer, was one of the original settlers of California after reaching the state via the Oregon Trail. When Hastings returned to Ohio, he wrote The Emigrants Guide to California. This guide featured the Hastings Cutoff, which was followed by the Donner Party on their ill-fated 1846 journey.

Hastings later returned to California, tasked with scouting out sites for a colony for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Mexican-owned territory of the region. He settled on a spot on Suisun Bay, right at the mouth of the Sacramento River. Hastings built a four-room adobe on the site and called it Montezuma City. Shortly after finishing construction on his adobe, the American flag was raised over the State of California and the colony was never established. Hastings abandoned the adobe not long after. 

In 1853, the Marshall Family came across the forgotten adobe, refurbished the structure, and made it their home. Hastings learned about this and was not pleased. He demanded a payment of $1,000 despite having no real legal claim to the land. The Marshalls disputed this claim originally but eventually paid off Hastings with two mules and six head of cattle. The Marshall family occupied the house until 1908 and made several upgrades to the property over the years.

From there, the property changed hands a few times until it and the surrounding land was sold to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1963 (PG&E) from the Stratton family. PG&E originally planned to build a nuclear power plant on the site, however, these plans never came to fruition.

Today, the adobe sits abandoned and forgotten, slowly being reclaimed by nature.