The cultural resources of the Arroyo Trabuco area are plentiful. On the edge of the expansive mesa known as the Plano Trabuco is an historic adobe. The San Francisco Solano adobe is thought to date back to the Mission period. Historians suppose that the adobe was sub-station for the mission and was used as a residence for the foreman of farming and cattle raising operations on the Plano. It is told that padres visited the adobe to minister to the Indians. Archeological surveys have found evidence of small camps within the canyon bottom, which are believed to have been shelter for runaway Indians who found mission life too harsh or foreign.
Cattle grazing and farming has been the continued land use pattern in the area since the early land grants. Most recently in history, the cattle grazing operations were conducted by Rancho Mission Viejo. From three separate donations of land to the County of Orange from Rancho Mission Viejo, the present acreage was obtained for park property in the early 1980's.
