Today the “Hill” is a beehive of energy and occupied by thousands of driven students seeking their education. This is the site of Santa Barbara City College. Most people have forgotten its earlier history as the hill where a grand “Castle,” owned and built by one of the county’s pioneers, Thomas B. Dibblee, stood. Where Montecito Street ends and Cliff Drive (Highway 225) begins is the entrance on the south side to that “Castle.” But before that, the site was also the location of four other historic venues: Indian burial grounds, a historic meeting point, a geological curiosity, and a Spanish redoubt.
For many years, the center of City College was the site of rancherias and the sacred burial grounds of the Chumash Indians, called “Mispu” or “The Place of the Hand.” The site was on the edge of the sea bluffs and with erosion the burials of people and artifacts were exposed. Over time, most of the burials were removed by collectors. We have this record from the Santa Barbara News-Press from January 29, 1924, with the headline “Museum Collector Secures Old Indian Relics from Pioneers”:
“A number of new and interesting revelations in regard to the old Indian rancherias of Mispu on Castle Rock Point have been discovered by J. P. Harrington, who is making extensive investigation here under the auspices of the Museum of the American Indian.
