San Antonio Valley Historical Association

The San Antonio Valley Historical Association (SAVHA) was started in 1968 with the goal of saving the Dutton Hotel in Jolon, California. The hotel started as a one-story adobe, built by Antonio Ramirez in 1849 as a home and an inn for miners and travelers. The building changed owners several times before 1876 when Lt. George Dutton took sole ownership. Dutton added a second adobe story and wood frame structures at either end. The Dutton Hotel was a major stagecoach stop for travelers between San Francisco and San Diego in the late 19th century as it was located on the original El Camino Real (the trail of the Portolá expedition of 1769) Located just five miles to the East of Mission San Antonio de Padua, the town of Jolon prospered between 1875 and 1910. The coming of the railroad to King City in 1886 followed by the highway bypassing the old El Camino Real in 1910 doomed Jolon, the popular social center of the San Antonio Valley, to decline and obscurity. The site of the former hotel is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
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