{"nrhp_refnum":"07000406","name":"Whalers Cabin","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Pt. Lobos State Reserve, 4 mi. S of Carmel","address_restricted":false,"city":"Carmel","county":"Monterey County","state":"CA","lat":36.51866710100006,"lon":-121.93453943699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-05-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story board-and-batten wood cabin and surrounding archaeological site at Whalers Cove in Point Lobos State Reserve, about four miles south of Carmel, Monterey County, California. It dates to about 1850 and is now used as a museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cabin and its surroundings are likely to yield information important to early Chinese and Portuguese history in the Monterey Bay region. It may be the only surviving Chinese fisherman's dwelling in the area, and its construction resembles documented Chinese fishing villages of the 1850s. Archaeological finds, including Chinese artifacts under the floor, support this, though the evidence on Portuguese whaler versus Chinese fisherman occupation is described as conflicting.","narrative":"Whalers Cabin is a one-story, wood-framed building of about 40 by 19 feet on a bench above Whalers Cove in Point Lobos State Reserve, south of Carmel. Its walls are board-and-batten redwood, and it has a saltbox roof covered in shingles. Built around 1850, it was first about 12 feet wide and was widened by seven feet, with four small rooms added by 1879. The cabin has been linked to Portuguese whalers, but researchers believe Chinese fishermen who settled the cove in the early 1850s built and used it. Its recycled materials, multi-paned windows and construction resemble known Chinese villages at Point Alones and Pescadero. A 1986 excavation under the floor recovered Chinese artifacts and whale vertebrae supporting the joists. World War II servicemen later left graffiti inside. Listed for its potential to yield historical and archaeological information, the site is now a museum, with surrounding deposits from the former fishing village.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1850-1933","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Other - Cabin","criteria":["D"],"status_note":"Used as a museum (cultural and historic); the detached 1948 garage holds interpretive displays. Stabilized with a concrete foundation in 1986 and the west wall replaced in 1993.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.747217-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/07000406.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000406/52787db1bf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000406/52787db1bf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sean O'Flaherty","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whalers_Cabin.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sean O'Flaherty</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whalers_Cabin.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859980","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whalers_Cabin","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14684259"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/monterey-county/whalers-cabin-07000406/"}