By the early 1860s, a number of buildings were completed in La Cueva, including the Big House, the San Rafael Mission Church, the Grist Mill, and the Mercantile Building.
• The Big House, built in the Monterey Peninsula Territorial Style, is a beautiful 8,000 sq. ft. adobe hacienda which acted as a social center for the territory around it, including Fort Union. In addition, the walls in the back provided protection from Indian raids for the settlers in the area. A bell still mounted on the west side of the house rang out to alert settlers to gather and aim their muskets through holes--still visible--in the adobe walls.
• The San Rafael Mission Church was built by the priests from Lamy and is unique with its French Gothic windows.
• The Grist Mill and walls and corrals became part of a major shipping center for the livestock and agricultural produce grown by the Romeros and their neighbors. Existing records from the mid-nineteenth century indicate up to 60 horse and ox drawn wagons were quartered at the ranch, destined to travel to Fort Union and other army outposts in the area.
• The Mercantile Building, which now houses the Salman Ranch Store, also housed the post office.
By 1881 Vincente had died and his son Rafael soon started to sell off his father’s holdings. Years later, in 1942, Colonel William Salman, then director of the Port of La Harve, the major landing site for troops after D Day, asked his wife, Frances and his friend and business associate Tex Grauer to find a ranch where he could move his young family to safety after the war. They found the land at La Cueva, and by 1950 Colonel Salman had reunited the five separate properties to restore the original Romero Land Grant of 32,000 acres. Some 60 years later, the Salman family still owns the land and buildings constituting the La Cueva Historic District.
