Santa Nella, California

Santa Nella is a census-designated place in Merced County, California. It is located 11mi east-northeast of Pacheco Pass, at an elevation of 154 feet, At the 2010 census, Santa Nella had a population of 1,380 people.NomenclatureThe name does not refer to a saint, as there is no "Saint Nella". It appears to have been formed from the Spanish centinela ("sentinel"), referring to the earlier Centinela Adobe that was located in the vicinity.HistorySanta Nella began as the site of Rancho de Centinela first established by pioneering stockmen from San Juan Bautista and Monterey as place to raise horses in 1810. The former Centinela Adobe, a one-story adobe built as living quarters for the ranch was located on the El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles about 3 miles downstream from the site of the later San Luis Adobe, at the east end of the Pacheco Pass road, situated on the south bank of Arroyo de San Luis Gonzaga. The escape of many of the horses into the valley and subsequent Indian hostilities made the enterprise a failure.The land and adobe of this old Spanish ranch was included in the Rancho San Luis Gonzaga in 1843. From the time of the California Gold Rush the stage road from Hill's Ferry crossed the San Luis Creek at Centinella on the way to connect with the Pacheco Pass road at Rancho San Luis. The old Centinela ranch became a stopping place for stages and travelers on El Camino Viejo. Later a two-story adobe house was constructed near the old adobe by Basque sheepmen in the 1860s and a wooden barn in the 1870s. The two story adobe was subsequently torn down in the 1890s and replaced by a frame house built by Miller and Lux. This house and barn were for a long time local landmarks. However by 1966, the wooden house and barn had been removed and a roadside stop built on the site along State Route 33. The name of the place had been corrupted into Santa Nella.