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| Old Town San Diego, Cosmopolitan Hotel in background |
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| Living History Demonstrations |
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| La Casa de Estudillo |
We spent an afternoon in San Diego visiting “Old Town” and the Presidio
overlooking what is considered the Birthplace of California.
San Diego became the first permanent Spanish
settlement in California in 1769.
Father
Junipero Serra came to establish his first mission on the hillside or presidio;
thereafter a small Mexican community of adobe buildings formed in the 1820’s at
the base of the hill.
A Mexican military
command arrived in 1822 at San Diego after Mexico had gained its independence
from Spain the previous year.
The small
settlement initially consisted of the nearby military garrison, the mission (which moved later six miles inland), and the port where ships stopped to trade
for supplies.
By 1825 adobes were built
below Presidio Hill and formed a rough but orderly street pattern around an open
plaza.
Two of the finest structures,
begun in 1827 still stand.
In 1846 when
the American Flag was raised over the town, its population numbered 250 people
and was incorporated as a city in 1850.
Today, part of Old Town
is a State Historic Park made up of restored and reconstructed buildings
housing museums, shops, and living history demonstrations by folks dressed in
period costume depicting life during the 1821 to 1872 period.
A blacksmith’s shop, general store,
stagecoach barn, tobacco shop, and hotel are among a characterized Old Town San
Diego.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel was originally a one-story adobe, the home of Don Juan Bandini, a Spanish gentleman and American patriot. Thought to have been built early in the 19th century, this adobe was the headquarters of Commodore Robert Stockton in 1846. The building was purchased around 1869 by Alfred Seeley, who added a second story to establish a hotel. An earilier period home, La Casa de Estudillo, was the highlight of our visit.
This home belonged to Capitan Jose Estudillo,
a retired San Diego Presidio Comandante (fort commander).
He began construction of the casa in 1827 on
a parcel of land granted to him by Mexican Governor Jose Echeandia.
The 3-5 foot thick walls are made of
sun-baked adobe bricks built on large river cobble foundations.
Upon Jose Estudillo’s death in 1830,
construction of the house continued under the direction of his son and his
wife.
Jose Estudillo held many public
offices in San Diego and he along with other family members acquired extensive
land holdings in the county, including several Ranchos.
The family descendants moved to Los Angeles
in 1887 and left the house with a caretaker.
The Estudillo house was later restored under the supervision of
architect Hazel Waterman around 1908.
The casa became part of the California State Park system in 1968 and is
furnished with representative items from the 16
th to 20
th
century.
After visiting Old Town, we
drove up to the Junipero Serra Museum on Presidio Hill.
The museum was built 1926-1929, designed in
the architectural style of an early California mission.
It
stands on the site where Father Serra built his very first mission and
showcases furniture, tools, and housewares from the Native American, Spanish,
Mexican, and American periods through 1929.
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| La Casa de Estudillo |
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| Thick Adobe Walls of La Casa de Estudillo |
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| Junipero Serra Museum |
Our fun weekend with Rob included a visit to the Mission Basilica San Diego. Mission San Diego was the first of a chain of
21 missions that stretched northward along the coast of California and became
known as the Mother of the Missions.
Founded in 1769 by Spanish friar Junipero Serra, the San Diego Mission
was moved to its present site in 1774 to be closer to the Kumeyaay native
villages and near a reliable source of water with suitable land for farming. Just one year after the adobe church was
completed, the mission was attacked by Indians and the tinder dry buildings were
burned to the ground. The sparsely
furnished casa del Padre Serra, where the friar resided during his frequent
visits to the Mission, is the only remaining piece of the original 1774 construction. However, Padre Serra returned to the gutted
site in 1776 and began restoration of the church and mission buildings, adding an
outer defense wall around the complex.
Most of the reconstruction was completed by 1790, arranged in a
quadrangle around a courtyard. The campanario (bell
tower) played an important role at missions; the San Diego Mission had five
bells which were rung at meal times and used as a call to religious services
and work gatherings. The bells were also
rung at funerals, births, and to signal the approach of a ship. When Mexico gained its independence in 1821, the
missions were offered for sale to citizens but they were unable to come up with the
funds so all mission property was broken up into ranchos and given to
ex-military officers who had fought in the War of Independence against
Spain. As a result, Mission San Diego
was given over to Santiago Arguello. Then
after the U.S.-Mexican War in 1848, the US Cavalry used the mission as a
military presence until 1857; five years later, the mission lands were returned
to the Catholic Church by order of President Abraham Lincoln. Father Anthony
Ubach began restoring the old San Diego Mission buildings in the 1880’s. Today, the Mission serves as an active parish
for the Catholic community and remains a cultural and historic treasure. The canopy or umbrella hanging in the chapel identifies this Mission as a basilica (church), an honor bestowed by the Pope. The church and its small museum are filled
with old paintings and artifacts that have survived over the years. Additional artifacts were recovered from
archaeological excavations next to the church.
The archeological dig site is the location of frontal rooms that once stood
here, used by visiting padres of the earlier 1774 church.
