In 1911, a parcel of land in San Diego came free with the purchase of an encyclopedia set.
According to the San Diego Reader, an encyclopedia publisher was having no luck hawking his wares in Southern California, so he devised an ingenious scheme to increase sales. He bought a 480-acre land tract north of Sweetwater Lake from the federal government for a mere $25, subdivided it into lots, and gave away a piece of San Diego real estate with every encyclopedia set sold. The legend goes that he threw in a dictionary along with the deal, and that’s how Dictionary Hill got its name.
This sweet military family’s home was just on the other side of Dictionary Hill from mine! When they called and asked for a session in their neighborhood and I noticed the address, I was excited to check out our nearby trails. It was a joy to capture these San Diego-born littles before they headed back east with the Navy.

































































