Chumash History of Faria Beach

The year is 1769, and the Spanish arrived on the Coast of California, known then as Alta California. The Portolá expedition was the first recorded European exploration of the interior of present-day California. The expedition encountered, documented, and traded with the Native Americans up and down the coast, including our local Chumash.

California was a paradise then. Lands lush with native plants and animals, flowing streams abundant with fish. Chumash villages were usually established within a mile of the beach and preferably at the mouth of a stream. The local Chumash depended directly on the natural environment and lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering, strongly relying on the abundant Channel marine life. The Chumash were among the most maritime of all California Indian tribes, known for their large seagoing canoes called Tomols. The boats were up to 40 ft long and constructed on Redwood planks, sealed with Tar. The Chumash refers to the tomol as the “House of the Sea” for their reliability.

 

 

As the Portolá Expedition traveled up the coast of California, a camp was near a small village 8 miles north of the Ventura River, now Faria Beach. The history of this sacred land goes back 1000’s years to a coastal Chumash village. The topography was idyllic for the Chumash way of life; Padre Juan Canyon provided fresh water, a rocky point, a sandy beach, and a flat bluff.

Archaeological surveys uncovered artifacts dating from 1050AD to 1500AD. Grass Mat Houses, burial sites, basket-making materials, Olivella beads and tarring pebbles, fish hooks, harpoon points, and fishing nets are just a few examples of things uncovered. At the time when people lived at the Pitas Point site, their houses were located on the edge of a low bluff overlooking the south. Below the bluff laid sandy beaches, rocky tide pools, and a point. Over time, the beach has risen about 26 ft. above the current sea level!

 

 

On August 15, 1769, as the Portolá Expedition camp rested overnight at Faria, they heard the sound of the natives.

“During the night, these people serenaded us with pipes or whistles; these were very disagreeable and only served to annoy us and keep us awake.”
– Juan Crespí, Tuesday, August 15, 1769

During the De Anza expedition in 1776, Father Font who was the expedition chaplain, was also responsible for taking latitudes along the way. In this diary, he goes to great lengths to supply details of the journey, which are still available to read today. Father Font had already been informed of the Los Pitos region, just north of Ventura, from the Portolá Expedition. Font wrote about Los Pito in his journal during their travels. “…the village of Los Pitos, so-called because of the whistle which the men of the first expedition of Commander Portolá heard blown there all night.”

 

 

The whistles, sometimes called “los pitos” in Spanish, were used in various Chumash ceremonies and rituals. They were crafted from animal bones, with intricate designs of abalone shell, olivella disk beads (Chumash currency), and wrapped with Juncus and asphaltum. The whistles played a role in the Chumash’s cultural and spiritual practices. The songs written and played were sacred to the person who created them. The Spanish explorers who encountered the Chumash would have likely encountered and observed these unique whistles in their interactions with the Chumash people.

And so the area was named Los Pitos.

 

In 1907, 1000 years after the Chumash Village of Los Pitos, Manuel Faria purchased 325 acres of land in the Rincon area West of Ventura, including 22 acres on the beach. Roberta Batiste, the granddaughter of Manuel Faria, spoke of how her Grandfather, Manuel, used to till his land and would collect the Chumash stone Mortar and Pestles. The picture below shows the exact Mortar and Pestles that were un-earthed by Manual along our coast!