Corral de Tierra, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Corral de Tierra
Unincorporated community
Gas station in Corral de Tierra
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Country	United States
State	California
County	Monterey County
Elevation	404 ft (123 m)
GNIS feature ID	1873397

Corral de Tierra (Spanish for "Pen of Earth") is an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. It is located in the Corral de Tierra Valley, on the former land grant of Corral de Tierra, at an elevation of 404 feet (123 m).

Geography

The community of Corral de Tierra lies along Highway 68 midway between Salinas and the Monterey Peninsula. State Route (SR) 68 stretches 20 miles between Salinas and Pacific Grove. It is part of the DeAnza Trail, a route that once linked all of California’s mission settlements during the Spanish Colonial era. CalTrans had plans to turn SR 68 into a freeway in the 1950s and 1960s, but environmental concerns stopped the expansion. As of 2006, the route carried 26,000 vehicles a day. Many of these trips are generated by 13,500 residents who now live in the Toro Park, San Benancio and Corral de Tierra districts.

The corner of Corral de Tierra and Highway 68 is 10 miles from the City of Monterey and seven miles from the City of Salinas.

Literary Representations

John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven, a short story cycle published in 1932, is set in the valley. In their youth, Steinbeck and his sister, Mary, played at the base of Castle Rock, the “fence of earth” giving Corral de Tierra its Spanish name.

The beautiful valley between Monterey and Salinas, granted by Governor Guiterrez to Francisco Figueroa in 1836, inspired Steinbeck’s short stories and California-based novels. In the last half century, small neighborhoods have been built in the valleys running off the Monterey-Salinas Highway, and a sense of independent identity and community has formed among the residents in the community of Corral de Tierra, California 93908.