Olive Trees on the Mesa - Part 2
Way back in the 1800s, Mesa farmers knew that olive trees grew well on the Mesa. In 1866, Santa Barbara lawyer Charles Enoch Huse, a Mesa landowner, posted an ad in the Sacramento Daily Union, hoping to sell some of his Mesa land to farmers. "Best Farming Lands . . . Particularly well calculated for the growth of olives . . . Climate unsurpassed in the state." Mesa farmers who had olive trees included Jonathan Mayhew, Henry Lewis Garfield, Ludwell Gains Oliver, Peveril Meigs, and John John (no that's not a typo; his name was John John).
Peveril Meigs (for whom Meigs Road is named) even produced his own olive oil here. The oil was said to be "the equal of any produced in California." And the Pacific Rural Press noted that his olives had won a prize at the Santa Barbara County Fair.