Pierre Hypolite Dallidet (1823-1909) –
Ascención Salazar (1840-died in 1873 while giving birth)

Pierre Hypolite Dallidet was born in France near Melle (Dept. of Deux-Sevres), east of La Rochelle. He was a carpenter by trade. Because of the depressed economic conditions of the 1830′s he enlisted in the French Army and left his native land. After serving in Tahiti for a long term he was discharged in 1851 at the age of 28.
He sailed from Tahiti to California on a schooner and went to the gold fields near Hangtown (Placerville). After two years of mining in the rough and tumble Mother Lode he became discouraged and joined a group of French miners who were going to Western Mexico as “filibusterers” or “soldiers of fortune.” As he was passing through San Luis Obispo he received word that the Mexican government had captured and executed the leader of his party. He prudently decided to settle here.
Pierre took lodgings with the family of Gabriel Salazar, a Spanish/Mexican soldier from New Mexico, who owned the land surrounding the Dallidet Adobe as well as farmland in the Chorro Valley (what now is Cuesta College and Camp San Luis). A romance that led to marriage developed between Pierre and Ascención, Gabriel’s young daughter.
Pierre became a carpenter, farmer and vintner. He purchased the property surrounding the present Dallidet Adobe in 1859 and constructed a three-room adobe dwelling shortly thereafter. The boys slept in a garret above the three rooms until, in the late 1860′s, an addition to the adobe was built out of wood. This addition included the dining room, bedrooms and what are now the caretaker’s quarters. By 1870, Pierre, the first commercial vintner on the central coast, was producing wine for the bustling mission community. He raised several grape varieties including Mission and a rare Charbonneau. The original winery no longer exists, however the family wine cellar below the adobe still remains. Family redwood and olive trees still shelter the 1 acre garden.
Pierre and Maria Ascencion had seven children. The last child, Paul, donated the adobe to the SLO County Historical Society as a meeting place for the fledgling organization back in 1953. Paul passed away in 1958 and by that time the Society had found another residence at the Carnegie Library in downtown San Luis Obispo. This was a lucky turn of events because it has allowed the Dallidet Adobe to be preserved as a prime example of late 1800’s living.

The Children