Fort Tejon

Fort Tejon is a former U.S. Army post in Grapevine Canyon, near Lebec in Kern County, California, on the sloping, oak-shaded ground along old Highway 99. The Army established it on June 24, 1854, to suppress stock rustling and protect Indians in the San Joaquin Valley. As regimental headquarters of the First Dragoons, it became an important military, social and political center. Camels were introduced here for transportation in 1858, and the fort was abandoned on September 11, 1864. It later served as headquarters for the Tejon Ranch until the State acquired it in 1940. Of the twenty or more original adobe and wood-frame buildings, most are ruins. Two barracks and an officers' quarters have been restored, and an orderlies' quarters has been stabilized. The remaining buildings and ruins surround a parade ground of roughly 400 by 400 feet. A park office and orientation center was built in 1958, and a nearby oak commemorates the pioneer Peter Lebec.