Old Town San Diego State Historic Park has history, restaurants (particularly Mexican cuisine) and shopping, as well as festivals and music events. Here are a few more images from the site.
Source of information from Old Town San Diego guide.
Established in 1968, the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is a living history museum that commemorates and preserves numerous historic buildings and recreates Old Town as it existed during the Mexican and early American periods, from its settlement in 1821, through 1872 when it lost its dominant position to Downtown.
Five original adobe buildings are part of the complex, which includes shops, restaurants and museums. Other historic buildings include a schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, San Diego’s first newspaper office, a cigar and pipe store, houses and gardens, and a stable with a carriage collection.
Constructed in 1825 as the home of Don Jose Antonio de Estudillo, a Spanish aristocrat. It became a sanctuary for women and children during the American occupation in 1846. For a number of years it was incorrectly identified as “Ramona’s Marriage Place” from Helen Hunt Jackson’s “Ramona”. The adobe structure is considered to be one of Old Town’s outstanding show places.
Begun in 1868 by Father Antonio D. Ubach. Due to the boom that set in for the New San Diego, the church was not completed and dedicated until 1919.
Originally a hotel, now houses the Wells Fargo Museum. The building is a reconstruction of the 1860 original. The Wells Fargo Museum is a historically furnished Wells Fargo agent’s office, including one of the famous 30 Coaches shipped to Wells Fargo in 1867
One of the most historic buildings in Old Town San Diego, the Whaley House was built in 1857 by Thomas Whaley, a San Diego pioneer, as his family home. Over the course of history the Whaley House has served as a general store, county courthouse and theatre. Apparently known as the most haunted house in America and after-hours they run paranormal tours.
James Robinson built this two-story structure in 1853 as his family residence and as the home of the San Diego Herald, the San Diego and Gila Railroad office and other private offices.
This wood-frame structure was prefabricated in Maine and shipped around the Horn in 1851. This first office of the San Diego Union newspaper is restored as it was when the Union printed its first edition on October 10, 1868.
Built in 1865, the Schoolhouse was the first publicly owned school in San Diego County. The building was a one-room, wood-frame, shingle-roofed structure with a ten foot high ceiling. A pot-bellied iron stove heated the room, and a water bucket and dipper provided the only indoor plumbing. All eight grades were taught in the single room.
Although it seems a little bit like a film set, it is still an interesting place to visit. And admission is free. Next time I will show you some of the more colourful aspects of this open museum.
Source of information from Old Town San Diego guide.
It’s been a while since I joined in with the Lens-Artists photo challenge, but the number 303 leapt out at me this week as I have just come back from a holiday based close to the A303 in Wiltshire so I thought it would be interesting to find connections between the sites we visited in and around that area.
The A303 is one of the main routes from London to the Southwest and a route I have travelled many, many times to visit my youngest son who is based in Wiltshire (military) and my daughter who lives in Surrey. It’s also famous for passing by the World Heritage site of Stonehenge, the world’s most famous prehistoric monument.
Stonehenge (2500 BC) is not the largest henge though, that title goes to Avebury and together they form the heart of a World Heritage Site which also includes Silbury Hill. We didn’t visit Stonehenge as we have done so not long ago, but we drove past it a few times this week so had a few sneaky glances! Instead we opted for a visit to Avebury.
Avebury (2850 – 2200 BC): the henge survives as a huge circular bank and ditch, encircling an area that includes part of Avebury village. Within the henge is the largest stone circle in Britain – originally of about 100 stones – which in turn encloses two smaller stone circles.
A double avenue of stones leads away from the southern entrance towards the Sanctuary stone circles on Overton Hill, about a mile to the south-east. Unlike Stonehenge, this site is free to visit though you will have to pay for parking unless you are a National Trust or English Heritage member.
More recent history can be found at Old Sarum, an iron age hill fort dating back to 400 BC. Later occupied by the Romans during their conquest of Britain in AD 43, where perhaps a military fort was set up. It was during William the Conqueror’s reign that the strategic advantage of this place was recognised and a motte and bailey castle built.
Later, stone buildings were erected and in 1078-99 a cathedral was built after the 1075 Council of London decreed that the see should be moved from Sherborne to Old Sarum. Dissatisfaction with the site and poor relations with the garrison in the castle caused the cathedral to be moved to its present site in Salisbury (New Sarum) in 1220 and much of the stone from the old cathedral was used to build the new one.
Established in 1776, the Presidio of San Francisco has existed as a military fortification under Spanish, Mexican, and American rule. It became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1994 when it was transferred to the National Park Service from the Army.
The Main Post is the heart of the Presidio where the oldest existing buildings are found.
In the 1890s, the Army built substantial brick barracks to house troops. They had heating, indoor plumbing, kitchens, rec rooms, and even space for tailors and barbers. The Main Parade Ground (now lawn) was constructed alongside so the soldiers could conduct drills and exercises. Today, the barracks have been reimagined as workplaces for a variety of organisations including the Walt Disney Family Museum.
Since 1997 the Presidio Trust has been busy renovating historic buildings in the park and a lot has changed since my visit there in 2010. It is an interesting place to visit and there is a shuttle bus that can take you all around the park.
Sausalito is a city in Marin County, California, across the Golden Gate Strait from San Francisco. Whilst in San Francisco it is fun to take a ferry over to Sausalito or Tiburon where you can get great views back across the bay and enjoy brunch overlooking the water.
As in the previous post this photo also refers back to that famous 1915 Expo. Close to the ferry port in downtown Sausalito is Viña del Mar Park, a small triangle-shaped park offering benches & grassy areas, and known for its elephant statues & fountain that were commissioned by William B. Faville for his ‘Court of the Universe’ complex in the 1915 Expo. He couldn’t bear to see them destroyed after the expo so had two of the elephants and a fountain shipped over to his Sausalito home. Obviously since they were made of Papier-mâché the ones you see now are replicas.
Sausalito is a good place from which to rent bikes (including electric) to ride over the Golden Gate bridge and on to the ferry terminal to return.
TRAVEL WORDS 