After about 10 years of planning, negotiating and fundraising, members of a Nipomo nonprofit group were finally able to close escrow on 29 acres of land they’ve had their eye on for almost half a century.

The Dana Adobe Nipomo Amigos purchased the parcel for $1.2 million in an effort to preserve what Dana President Herb Kandel called “a piece of local history.”

The society owns and manages the historic Dana Adobe property, an 1840s home that is a popular destination for school field trips. By owning the surrounding acreage, Dana can rest assured that it will remain undeveloped.

“We now have a very unique asset here in South [San Luis Obispo] County: a cultural and historical landscape,” Kandel said. “The Dana Adobe is unique in that it now has surrounding land protected from housing and business development.”

The adobe and nearby land were at the heart of the 37,888-acre land grant known as Rancho Nipomo, awarded to Capt. William Dana and his wife Maria Josefa Carrillo Dana in 1836.

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