For 10,000 years, the Esselen people have lived here. At one time, their lands encompassed an area extending from the San Francisco Bay area down to Lopez Point, south of Big Sur. But by the time of colonization, their lands had dwindled (due to pressure from Penutian speaking tribes), to a coastal area stretching forty miles from the Carmel Mission down the Big Sur coast and into the Santa Lucia Mountains. They lived in small family groups and, as hunter-gatherers, they moved seasonally to follow food sources, living both on the coast and in the mountains. The Esselen language, a Hokan type, is in the family of languages spoken by Natives indigenous to certain parts of California and regions surrounding the lower Colorado River.
Mission Era
The Esselen Tribe was always small, but mission life nearly decimated their population. Junipero Serra established Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo in 1770 and Mission San Antonio de Padua in 1771, gathering the Esselen and other local tribes to live and labor at the Missions. (Esselen were also later taken to Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, which was founded in 1791.) The Spaniards introduced diseases for which the Natives had no defenses and the harsh living conditions of mission life resulted in high infant and child mortality rates. By the early 1800s it is estimated that 90% of the Esselen had perished—only 100 known members survived.
Post Mission Era
“Exiles in their own homelands… the homeless and landless in a world of increasingly sharp definitions of private property.” — James Collins
When the mission era ended in 1833, many Mission Indians attempted to return to their lands, but as the Spanish and Mexican governments had made land grants of their ancestral home, they had no land to return to. The opportunities for the Mission Indians were scarce. Many began working as cowboys on the newly formed Mexican ranches, staying on the land, but without any right to it. Others moved into Monterey, many to what was known as the “Indian Neighborhood” on Dutra Street (part of which is now the parking lot for the Monterey Police and Fire Stations).
Disbursed, and with fear of discrimination or worse, the Esselen and other Mission Indians seemingly assimilated into Mexican, Spanish and American culture, making their presence less obvious, but they continued to quietly practice their traditions and hand down their stories.
A Continued Struggle
To this day, the United States Government does not recognize the Esselen Tribe (the State of California does), nor do they recognize any of the other Monterey County tribes. But despite that, and despite being the smallest tribe in California, the Esselen have a growing voice and growing visibility.
Two local groups represent the Esselen today—Ohlone Coastanoan Esselen Nation (OCEN) and the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County. In 1992, OCEN petitioned the U.S. Government for federal recognition and were denied, but they are committed to gaining recognition and continue their fight today.
In 2018, the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County created a nonprofit with the purpose of regaining ancestral lands and, 250 years after being removed from their homeland, they have successfully reclaimed a portion of it. Nearly 1,200 acres of land has been reacquired by the tribe with grant money and help from the Western Rivers Conservancy, the California Natural Resources Agency, and a 2018 voter approved bond to buy back Native American resources from private landowners. Just this March, the tribe formed a partnership with the Wildlands Conservancy to eventually acquire 1,800 acres of Rana Creek Ranch in Carmel Valley.
In this current phase of their sacred homeland reclamation, the Esselen are finally able to return to their land, conducting ceremonies, teaching their tribal citizens and the community about their culture and, perhaps most importantly, they will again be able to bury ancestors on their homeland.
Esselen Women Here Today
As in many cultures, Esselen women play a large and important role in passing down stories and traditions, and despite the near decimation of their population almost 200 years ago, they continue to do so to this day. Three local Esselen women share their stories in the following pages, and despite a collective history of tragedy (some first hand, some generational) the stories they share are proud ones—of perseverance and strength—rather than sorrow. They have persisted here and their contributions to our community and beyond are vast, and their stories empowering.
Janette Ritter Cate
Growing up in Del Rey Oaks and attending York School, Janette Ritter Cate knew her heritage and her family’s history—descendant of the Dutra Street Esselen Community. But most of her schoolmates had no idea she was Esselen—with ancestors buried at Carmel Mission—or that she was active in OCEN tribal affairs. After graduating from York, Cate went on to graduate from the University of Oregon in Eugene—the first person on the Esselen side of her family to receive a college degree. There she had the opportunity to meet other young Indigenous people, though their stories were very different from her own. Most had grown up on reservations while her tribe has been dispersed, unrecognized and landless since the days of the missions. Cate became active in Native American student groups and much of her college experience centered on digging for self identity. She returned to the peninsula after graduating and acted as a tribal council member, including vice chair of the OCEN tribe. Today she is a seasoned professional, an accountant with over 20 years experience, working on the peninsula and living in Carmel Valley with her husband and two children. When asked what being Esselen means to her, she speaks mostly of an honor and reverence for her mother, the importance of respecting all living things and a veneration of nature. From her mother, she learned the recipes of her grandmother, and cooking them for her family is a obeisance to her ancestors and a way to tie her children to their history. Like her mother did with her and her brother, Cate takes her son and daughter into the Santa Lucia and Big Sur wilderness to experience the beauty and magic of their ancestral lands. She feels the weight of the responsibility of passing down her Esselen heritage, making sure her children know their history, “That this is their homeland and that there is a responsibility for this land and this history, making sure they honor those that came before them and act as good stewards of this land. I want my kids to be grateful for how far they’ve come in such a short time,” she shares.
Pamela Tanous
Pamela Tanous is an elder in the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County. She grew up in Pacific Grove, attending local schools and went on to earn a number of college degrees, including one in journalism. Like so many Indigenous people of her generation, Tanous’ mother was not open about her Indigenous heritage, which came from her great grandmother. But Tanous was curious, a good researcher and, as she states, is “always searching for the truth in who we are and our true identity.”
“To be Esselen is an honor,” she shares and, as an elder, she gives advice and helps members find answers to their own questions. She is also in the process of learning the Esselen language, furthering her connection to her ancestral roots. With the help of scholars and genealogists, Tanous has been able to trace her family back to the 1700s to the village of Tucutnut in Carmel Valley.
Over the years, Tanous has been instrumental in sharing her heritage with the broader Monterey Peninsula community. She is active in Indigenous groups and events like Red Dress Day and she has organized numerous powwows at CSUMB in years past (something she hopes to bring back in the near future). Tanous also worked for the Monterey Visitors Center and for the Monterey Chamber of Commerce, where she was able to share her history and local knowledge with visitors and locals.
One might not think there is a link between Native Americans and golf, but there is in fact a strong link through Tanous’ family to the earliest days of golf in the U.S. Tanous’ great uncles, Abe and Al Espinosa, were famed golf pros who grew up playing golf at Old Del Monte. They were known both for their skill and their dashing attire. Both men played in the first Masters Tournament. Abe won three PGA titles. Al went on to win nine PGA titles and was on the Ryder Cup team for three years. Tanous’ great aunt Annette Espinosa was also a celebrated golfer and was the first female golfer to teach lessons at Pebble Beach. And today, the tradition of golf continues in her family, “My daughter was six years old when I put a club in her hands and she joined the Jr. AT&T for about 11 years and won several tournaments,” shares Tanous.
Cari Herthel
Vice Chair of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County Cari Herthel is extremely active within the tribe and in our community—even at the national level—as an expert, a resource recovery specialist and an advocate for victims of human trafficking, serving as the chair of the Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties’ Coalition to End Human Trafficking. Herthel shares her incredible story fully and candidly—from her origins of being sold out of the foster care system, suffering sexual abuse as a child, and trafficked as a teen and young adult—to her present day, a woman in recovery who has used her pain to help the lives of so many others. Her story tells like a tragic novel, but she refuses to see her experience as anything but positive for the voice it has given her to foster change in this world, specifically to be able to help children. “I turned poison into medicine,” says Herthel, sharing, “I am actually very grateful to both of my parents, because if I had not gone through what I went through, I could not be the leader that I am in these forums where I can speak out for children… I believe I was given a gift to be able to do that.”
Herthel’s Esselen heritage comes through her birth father. Her adoptive parents were a non-Indigenous Carmel Valley family, but their home was located on ancestral Esselen land. Though her adoptive parents did not share any information about her origins, she seemed to know it intrinsically. As a child, she told stories about her people, something not uncommon in indigenous culture, as collective memories of ancestors are considered to be a part of the fibers of being. But it wasn’t until as an adult after finding sobriety, that she emerged whole and in search of exact information about her Indigenous identity. 32 years ago, Herthel began her genealogical research and found her Esselen heritage.
Herthel shares that being Esselen is “a sacred connection to my ancestors, an acknowledgment of my homeland and history.” As an elder, Herthel takes on many responsibilities in the tribe. She speaks the Esselen language in prayer and when leading ceremonies. She focuses her energy on food sovereignty, youth engagement, and community collaboration and education—building bridges and healing wounds—and using her experiences to foster resilience and strength in the next generation of Esselen people.