Tapo Canyon | Historic adobe ruins, Native American village site and ancient fossil shells

Tapo Canyon in Simi Valley may not be well known but it’s filled with some interesting history.
Tapo Canyon was once home to the largest amongst the three Chumash villages in the Simi Valley.
It is also home to Tapo Adobe ruins, located at Tapo Canyon Regional Park, built 1820. During the 1850s, wine-maker Don José De La Guerra made wine in his Tapo Canyon vineyards.
In 1886 Edward C. Gillibrand and his wife arrived and bought 5,400 acres of Simi Valley, including Tapo Mountain.
He discovered that an entire 2,400-foot mountain on his property was pure 10 million year old fossilized oyster and scallop shells, the largest known deposit of its kind in North America.
He ground-up the ancient oyster shells and added them to chicken and cattle feed to help with digestion and it was also used as a fertilizer.
A similar mining operation, Coquina Mine, can be reached via a 6 mile hike up Las Llajas Canyon. You can still see the abandoned mining equipment and fossils embedded in the rocks.

[@photographybya7602]

Very nicely produced. Perfect time of year to film it, too.

[@GuitarGuts]

What an amazing video. I have stumbled upon that tractor while hiking, so cool to hear it’s history!

[@lopezexplora]

Cool video and lots of info, thank you for sharing.

[@coreymacgregor176]

Another great video. I had no idea once again!!!

[@socaloutdoorexplorer5642]

Thank you : )

[@rbalexander]

Are the fenced in ruins in Tapo canyon?

[@bombaybeach208]

Where does the trail to these ruins start?