Huasna, California

Unincorporated community in California, United States

35°07′22″N 120°23′37″W / 35.12278°N 120.39361°W / 35.12278; -120.39361CountryUnited StatesStateCaliforniaCounty San Luis ObispoElevation

797 ft (243 m)Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)Area code805GNIS feature ID1660774^[1]

Huasna (Chumash: Awasna)^[2] is an unincorporated community in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California, United States.

Huasna is located on the western slope of the southern Santa Lucia Range. Huasna is due east of Arroyo Grande. The name Huasna derives from wasna,^[3] a Chumash village in the vicinity of "the path that climbs up to the sky."^[4] According to Chumash narratives, this path is located somewhere in the Huasna region, as recounted in the Story of Anucwa in which sisters journey there.^[4] Huasna was later incorporated into Rancho Huasna, granted to Isaac J. Sparks by Governor Manuel Micheltorena in 1843. An adobe ranch house and schoolhouse once stood in the community.^[5] The Huasna area was the site of considerable oil exploration in the 1950s,^[6] but today the Huasna area is mostly farmland.

The Huasna River runs through the community.

References

^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
^ Chumash placenames
^ Bright, William (1998). 1500 California Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning (3d ed.). Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-520-21271-8.
^ ^a ^b Blackburn, Ed., Thomas C. (1975). December's Child, a Book of Chumash Oral Narratives. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, Ltd. p. 235. ISBN 0-520-04088-0.
^ "South County Historical Society".
^ Kegley, Howard (August 6, 1955). "Drilling Bits and Crude Facts--Huasna Valley Field Sought". Oxnard Press-Courier. Oxnard, CA. p. 5. Retrieved September 16, 2023.