Palomar Mountain is a forested ridge in northern San Diego County whose identity blends natural, cultural, and scientific significance. Known in Luiseño as Paauw, with High Point called Wikyo, it took its Spanish name from the band-tailed pigeons once associated with the mountain; that older name was restored in 1901 after a period as Mount Joseph Smith. By the 1890s it supported schools and summer tourism, and Nathan Harrison, an early African American homesteader, became one of its best-known residents. In the modern era, Palomar Observatory and its Hale Telescope made the mountain internationally important in astronomy, while its cool, moist slopes, state park, forests, and prominent High Point remain major regional attractions.