This photograph in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 shows the Castro-Noble Adobe, which once overlooked the 1,668-acre Rancho Soquel granted to Martina Castro Lodge in 1833. The rancho encompassed most of modern Capitola, and parts of today’s Cabrillo College, Monterey Bay Heights neighborhood and New Brighton State Beach. In 1843, Martina Castro Lodge was granted Soquel Augmentation Rancho, another 32,702 acres that stretched up into the valuable redwood forest region, making her the largest landowner in Santa Cruz County. Martina Castro Lodge and her husband Michael Lodge built their adobe on a plateau overlooking Soquel Creek and Monterey Bay. In 1855 Martina Castro Lodge sold the adobe to two Catholic priests but just a year later it was sold again to the Augustus Noble family. This photograph of the adobe was taken in 1903 when the Noble family occupied it. In 1924 the adobe was cited as “rapidly falling into a state of decay” and was razed a year later. Go to latino.si.edu — learn/teaching-and-learning-resources/hispanic-heritage-month-resources/hispanic-heritage-month for information on Hispanic Heritage Month. Courtesy Capitola Historical Museum