Tag Archive | spanish
October 4, 2013  

California Historical Landmark: No. 69 Fort Guijarros Site

fort-guijarros-watercolorContinuing the history of the Ballast Point area. After Cabrillo’s landing in 1542, there wasn’t a lot of European activity in San Diego until the founding of Mission San Diego and the Presidio in 1769. Two centuries of minimal contact, such as Vizcaino’s visit in 1602, when he named the bay after San Diego, wiping out Cabrillo’s designation of San Miguel. But once a permanent settlement was established in San Diego, the Spanish realized that not only did they need a military presence in general, they also needed to defend the bay and their ships from foreign ambitions.

California Historical Landmark No. 69
Despite the ban on foreign trading ships visiting Spanish ports, except at Monterey, George Vancouver visited San Diego Bay in 1793 and noted the lack of defenses at San Diego Bay.

With plans drawn in 1795 by Alberto de Cordoba, the Spanish built Fort Guijarros at the entrance of San Diego Bay, on the base of the spit of land later known as Ballast Point, which was also where Cabrillo had made his first landfall 250 learns earlier. Besides defending the entrance to the bay, it also was located near Old La Playa, the main harborfront for the San Diego settlement, and could offer it some protection.

Completed in November 1796 and named “San Joaquin”, the fort was later named “Guijarros” for the cobblestones found nearby, which also later led to the name of Ballast Point after the Americans moved in. Historical records indicated that the sloping walls of the coastal defenses were twenty feet thick, and the fort had about ten cannons.

The fort was involved in two skirmishes:

In March 1803, the Spanish defenders traded fire with the American brig Lelia Byrd, which was attempting to escape the harbor with a load of contraband sea otter pelts. This event, in which the Lelia Byrd escaped, was dubbed “The Battle of San Diego Bay”.

In 1828, with the fort now under Mexican control, shots were exchanged with another American ship, the Franklin, after being caught in illegal trade.

Under Mexican rule, the fort deteriorated, and was abandoned by 1838. By the 1840s, the Ballast Point area became settled by whalers. When US naval forces arrived in 1848, they took the abandoned cannon from the fort to siege against Old Town San Diego. Later, the site became part of the US Army’s Fort Rosecrans, and remains in US military control today.

The site of Fort Guijarros was registered as a California Historical Landmark on Dec. 6, 1932.

Plaque Text:

P1210215 by jawajames
P1210215, a photo by jawajames on Flickr.
    FORT GUIJARROS SITE
    An outpost of Spain's far-flung empire at its greatest extent, this fort was completed before 1800 from plans drawn by Alberto de Cordoba in 1795. Its major action came under Corporal Jose Velasquez on March 22, 1803, in the "Battle of San Diego Bay" with the American brig, Lelia Byrd, which was smuggling sea otter pelts.

    California Registered Historical Landmark No. 69

    Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Navy, Casa de Espana, San Diego Cannonneers, San Diego Archaeological Society, and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, March 22, 1981.

Note: the State listing for this landmark calls it “Site of Fort Guijarros” while the plaque itself says “Fort Guijarros Site.”

Location:
Ballast-Point-landmarksThe plaque is located in a small grassy area with parking along the south edge of Ballast Point, at the south end of Fort Rosecrans Blvd, forming a semi-circle with three other California Historical Landmark markers. The Fort Guijarros marker is the third of the four markers, as you face them from the north. Located within Navy Base Point Loma, public access to the landmark may be limited. The Ballast Point area is open to the public during the annual Cabrillo Festival, which is held at the recreation area marked Smuggler’s Cove on the map.

The actual location of the fort site is the spot immediately west of the landmark semi-circle, which is currently an access road and a building.

Also at the landmark plaque site is a small monument across the parking lot from the California Historical Landmarks. This monument commemorates the visit of the Spanish naval training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano in 1983 and is left in honor of their Spanish comrades who served at the fort from 1797 to 1821.

Photos:
View my album of the Fort Guijarros marker and other Ballast Point landmarks, as well as my album of the 2013 Cabrillo Festival.

Resources:

October 1, 2013  

California Historical Landmark No. 56: Cabrillo Landing

This past weekend was the annual San Diego Cabrillo Festival, which celebrates the first landing of a European in Alta California, by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542. Held at Ballast Point, where Cabrillo originally landed, the festival brings together different cultures of San Diego: Portuguese, Spanish, Mexican, and Native American. Since Ballast Point is currently the southern portion of Naval Base Point Loma, it is also one of the few times that the public is allowed to visit the site, which is home to four California Historical Landmark plaques, all relating to the history of Ballast Point and the surrounding area.

Here’s a video I made from the Cabrillo Festival, with the re-enactment of Cabrillo’s historic landing, as well as a performance by the Portuguese Philharmonic Band of San Diego, and some local place name information from Running Grunion.

California Historical Landmark No. 56

João Rodrigues Cabrilho was a Portuguese explorer who journeyed along the west coast of North America for Spain. Commanding three ships, he set out from Navidad, New Spain (Jalisco, Mexico) in June 1542 and headed northward. On September 28, 1542, he entered San Diego Bay, and landed at the area now known as Ballast Point, and named the bay for San Mateo. He continued northward, discovering Santa Catalina Island, San Pedro, Santa Monica, and went as far north to name Point Reyes (but missed San Francisco Bay). On the return trip, he was injured during a native attack on Catalina, and died in January 1543, and his expedition continued their return to Navidad. Records of the voyage were mostly lost until the seventeenth century.

In 1913, President Wilson designated a half-acres of Fort Rosecrans to be Cabrillo National Monument for the construction of a statue to honor Cabrillo, though the statue was not installed until 1939. The site of Cabrillo’s first landfall was designated as a California Historical Landmark on December 6, 1932 as Cabrillo Landing Site.
Over time, the National Monument was expanded to cover much of the southern tip of Point Loma, but Ballast Point, which had been home to successive military installations, remained in military hands, and is currently part of Naval Base Point Loma.

Plaque Text:

    CABRILLO LANDING
    Seeking the mythical Strait of Anián (the Northwest Passage) for Spain, on September 28, 1542, Iberian navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo brought his three ships to Ballast Point, the first European landing on the coast of Alta California.

    California Registered Historical Landmark No. 56

    First registered December 6, 1932. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Navy and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, September 26, 1992.

Location:
Ballast-Point-landmarksThe plaque is located in a small grassy area with parking along the south edge of Ballast Point, at the south end of Fort Rosecrans Blvd, forming a semi-circle with three other California Historical Landmark markers. The Cabrillo Landing marker is the eastmost of the four markers. Located within Navy Base Point Loma, public access to the landmark may be limited. The Ballast Point area is open to the public during the annual Cabrillo Festival, which is held at the recreation area marked Smuggler’s Cove on the map.

Photos:
View my album of the Cabrillo Landing marker and other Ballast Point landmarks, as well as my album of the 2013 Cabrillo Festival.

Resources:

April 11, 2013  

California Historical Landmark No. 59: San Diego Presidio Site

Presidio Hill, just above Old Town, is the site of several California Historical Landmarks, and is today a lovely city park for relaxation and enjoyment, with hiking and picnicking opportunities with fantastic scenery and views. Located prominently in the park is the Junípero Serra Museum, which is run by the San Diego History Center. The museum is located just uphill of the original site of the Presidio (garrison) established by the Spanish.

California Historical Landmark No. 59

Prior to Spanish settlement, the hillside was settled by the Kumeyaay people as the village of Cosoy. When the Spanish came to settle Alta California, they established the Presidio, a military fort, in May 14, 1769. The Presidio hill had a strong defensive position, and could keep watch over San Diego Bay, and the Pacific off of False Bay (today’s Mission Bay), while having access to water from the San Diego River. The presidio was the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Coast of the US. While the presidio had to fend off an Indian uprising only a month into its establishment, a stockade was completed in 1770. The Mission San Diego de Alcala was founded only two months after the fort was established, also on Presidio Hill, by Fr. Junipero Serra, though was moved further upstream to its present site in 1774.

Around that time, the original buildings of the Presidio were being upgraded to adobe structures, and in 1822, after Mexican independence, the post was turned over from Spain to Mexico, and became the Mexican Governor’s residence until it was abandoned in 1837, when being in the town below was more practical than up on the hill. The site fell into ruin. George Marston, a wealthy San Diego businessman, bought the site in 1907 in order to preserve it, and had the Serra Museum building built in Spanish Revival style in 1929, and turned the park over to the city at that time. While no buildings of the Presidio remain, you can still see the remnants in the mounds just west of the Serra Museum at its parking lot.

Plaque text:

    SAN DIEGO PRESIDIO SITE
    Soldiers, sailors, Indians, and Franciscan missionaries from New Spain occupied the land at Presidio Hill on May 17, 1769 as a military outpost. Two months later, Fr. Junipero Serra established the first San Diego mission on Presidio Hill. Officially proclaimed a Spanish presidio on January 1, 1774, the fortress was later occupied by a succession of Mexican forces. The presidio was abandoned in 1837 after San Diego became a pueblo.

    California Registered Historical Landmark No. 59

    First registered Dec. 6, 1932. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, August 8, 1992.

The perimeter of the site itself is partially marked with a yellow wall just downhill of the parking lot, and can be entered from a few spots. Most of the site is grass covered, though some mounds form the outline of a building site within the fort site. At the back end of the parking lot is a small pentagonal building that forms a corner of the perimeter wall. It probably stores park maintenance supplies, but has a small staircase leading up to a roof overlook spot, and has a marker on the wall memorializing Sylvester Pattie, the first American buried here (part of a exploration expedition, who was imprisoned).

Following the main roadway downhill, there are also a few other markers and statues: one grove has a statue entitled Padre, a time capsule and the Serra Cross, made out of tiles and bricks pulled from the ruins of the Presidio, and built in 1913. Across the roadway is a larger statue entitled The Indian, by the same artist, Arthur Putnam, around a buried archaeological site that was once the village of Cosoy. Near this statue is an restroom with a rooftop overlook spot for Old Town and Mission Bay. Both statues were originally placed elsewhere but later moved to the park in 1933.

Location:
The Presidio site is located about two-thirds of the way up Presidio Hill, in the aptly named Presidio Park.

From Interstate 5, take Interstate 8 east to Taylor Street / Hotel Circle (first exit), and turn right (west) onto Taylor Street. Follow Taylor Street along past the Presidio Hill, and turn left onto Presidio Drive, entering the park*. Follow the road south and it will immediately end in a T, and turn left to stay on Presidio Drive, and it will meander up the hill. The Serra Museum will be on the left, with its parking lot on the right.

The Presidio Site landmark plaque is located at the parking lot entrance, across the road from the Serra Museum. The actual presidio site is located downhill of the parking lot, in the area surrounded by the yellow wall.

*At the park entrance, just east of the intersection of Taylor Street and Presidio Drive, are two more California Historical Landmarks, No. 67 – Serra Palm, and No. 244 – Derby Dike, as well as a marker for the La Playa Trail. At the top of Presidio Hill is another Historical Landmark, No. 54 – Fort Stockton.

If you have time for your Presidio visit, I suggest taking the Old Presidio Historic Trail. It is about a mile long, and is marked with a series of 13 signs from Old Town to the Serra museum. The signs, made by the San Diego Historical Society, describe some of the history of the hill site. We tried to follow it, but went off track after hitting the main steep slopes going up the hill. We did find the last few signs of it as we returned down the hill from the Serra Museum. The first marker of the Old Presidio Historic Trail is at the intersection of Mason St. and Juan St. next to Old Town State Park and the Presidio Hills Golf Course, which is the site of another California Historical Landmark – No 74 – Casa de Carrillo.

Photos:
See all the photos on my
flickr album of Presidio Hill. There’s photos of the Presidio site, the Serra Museum, and other parts of Presidio Park, the Casa de Carrillo, and related historical landmarks.

Resources:

April 3, 2013  

California Historical Landmark No. 52: Mission Dam and Flume

Related to the historical landmark site of Mission San Diego de Alcala is the Mission Dam and Flume, located only a few miles away, upstream on the San Diego River.

One of the key reasons that the mission was relocated from the Presidio area (at the west end of Mission Valley) was the need for more water and fertile land for crops. Another reason was to locate the mission, whose purpose was to serve and minister to the native population, away from the Spanish soldiers at the Presidio. In 1774, the mission was moved up the valley to a small rise at a bend in the San Diego River, and the valley just north of the bend was prime farmland to support the mission. However to better control water for both the mission and the crops, a reservoir and irrigation system was needed. This was realized with the Mission Dam & Flume, which was completed in 1816. Today, the flume no longer exists, and the dam, sometimes called the Old Mission Dam or Padre Dam, no longer forms a full reservoir, but still partially impedes the flow of the river.

California Historical Landmark No. 52

After our tour of the Mission, we headed a few miles north and east, following the course of the San Diego River upstream, along the aptly named Mission Gorge Road, leading us into a group of mountains which are part of Mission Trails Regional Park. At the park’s visitor center, we were given some directions to find the Mission Dam, which is easily accessed by a one-way road that cuts through the park along the river gorge.

On the upstream side of the gorge, the land flattens out again, and so the top of the gorge became a good spot to dam the river to form a reservoir to hold water for the mission, six miles downstream.

Plaque text:

    MISSION DAM AND FLUME
    After many attempts dating back to 1774 to provide a reliable source of water for crops and livestock for Mission San Diego de Alcala, a dam and flume system was finished between 1813 and 1816 by Indian laborers and Franciscan missionaries to divert waters of the San Diego River for a distance of 6 miles. The aqueduct system continued in existence until 1831 when constant flooding caused the dam and flume to fall into disrepair. They were not repaired due to the secularization of the missions.

    California Registered Historical Landmark No. 52

    First registered Dec. 6, 1932. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with Mission Trails Regional Park, City of San Diego, and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, May 2, 1992.

Mission Dam by jawajames
Mission Dam, a photo by jawajames on Flickr.

The dam formed a reservoir about 300 yards long, and fed into a flume system, made with rounded tiles, that went down to the mission’s farmland and also to the mission (near where the site of the fountain in the central courtyard).

Nowadays, the ruins of the Old Mission Dam are a highlight of the park system, with a small picnic area located at the dam, and a view point on the north side of the dam. The marker is located at the end of the parking area just off of the road, and the dam is only a short walk away. The dam is also a nationally registered historic landmark, for its role as the first major irrigation project on the West Coast.

What is interesting to note: the Mission Dam is California Historical Landmark No. 52 (from 1932) but the Mission itself is No. 242 (from 1936).

Location:
The plaque is located at the end of the parking lot on the north side of Fr. Junipero Serra Trail (road) in Mission Trails Regional Park. To reach the parking lot by car, you can either enter the park at the Visitor Center entrance off of Mission Gorge Road (near Jackson Drive), & continue on the one way road up the gorge. After 1.7 miles, the parking lot is clearly marked and on the left side, when the road becomes two-way again. I’d suggest visiting this way, or at least hiking through the area, to better understand the terrain that the flume had to be built through, and why the dam location was ideal.

Or you can enter Mission Trails Regional Park from the east side (Santee), from Mission Gorge Road, west of West Hills Parkway, onto Fr. Junipero Serra Trail, and follow it until the road turns into the parking lot on the right (and the road becomes one way in the other direction). Located near the plaque are both a Mission Bell marker and a plaque proclaiming the dam as a National Historic Landmark, and other such recognition plaques.

The dam itself is only a short walk west from the parking lot and plaque. If you follow the trail farther downstream, you will encounter a bridge that will let you cross the river and double back on the north bank to the dam and a good vantage point.

Photos:

Check out my set of photos of the Mission Dam and the landmark plaque.

Resources:

March 28, 2013  

California Historical Landmark No. 242: Mission San Diego de Alcala & No. 784: El Camino Real

At the beginning of February, we spent a day to find a few more California Historical Landmarks, all connected to the Mission San Diego de Alcala. Here’s the two that are at the Mission site – both are found on the exterior wall of the Mission courtyard, accessible to the public at all times.

No. 242 Mission San Diego de Alcala

First stop was the mission itself. The mission, which was founded in 1769 by Fr. Junipero Serra at the Presidio Hill, but relocated from there to its current location further up Mission Valley in 1774 by Fr. Luis Jayme to have better access to water for irrigation, to be closer to the Native Americans, and further away from the Spanish military garrison at the Presidio.

Plaque text:

    MISSION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA
    On Sunday, July 16, 1769 Fathers Junipero Serra, Juan Vizcaino, and Fernando Parron raised and blessed a cross to establish Alta California's 1st mission. Relocated from Presidio Hill to this site in August 1774 the mission was the mother of those founded by the Franciscan order. The present buildings, first completed in 1813, were rebuilt in stages from 1915 to 1931 after many years of deterioration. They have been in use as a parish church since February 1941.

    California Registered Historical Landmark No. 242

    Originally registered June 10, 1936. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Diocese of San Diego and Squibob Chapter, E Clampus Vitus, Sunday July 16, 1989.

This points out the basic history of the mission, though there’s more to it. The mission remained active from the Spanish colonial period (even building a dam and flume to supply water to the mission and its crops) through Mexico’s independence in 1821, but eventually the mission system was dissolved and the lands redistributed through the 1834 Decree of Secularization. In the 1850s, with California now a state in the United States, the mission was used as a military outpost, with the soldiers building a second floor within the chapel: the upper floor was a barracks while the main floor was the stable. In the late 1800s, the mission was used as an Indian children’s school. By the early twentieth century, the building complex was falling into ruin, and efforts to restore it as a historical site. Read more about the history at the Mission’s website or at the National Park Service’s site for American Latino Heritage.

After being rebuilt (though the campanario, or bell wall, were rebuilt with no photographs of how they were originally structured), the church was re-opened as a parish in San Diego in 1941 (though perhaps at that time, Mission Valley was still rather sparsely settled.) In 1976, the mission was named a minor basilica of the Church.

The plaque is located along the main front wall, to the right of the entrance passage to the gift shop.

The mission today houses:

  • the main church (still active as a parish) – a two-story rectangular building built as wide as the longest beams would allow.
  • a smaller chapel (for daily services)
  • some museum displays – a recreation of what the priests’ main residential room, and a room of artifacts and displays of the history of the mission, from its use as a mission, to the Mexican secular period, to its use as a military barracks, to its abandonment and restoration.
  • gift shop, where you can enter the grounds to explore the mission (donation is suggested, and they have a handy guide map and pamphlet of a walk around the grounds)
  • a garden courtyard behind the campanario with trees, fountains, statues, and devotional spots
  • a central courtyard / church parking area with a display of a traditional Kumeyaay house, a central fountain, and a Pieta statue.
  • archaeological dig site of the cloister building that went along the front wall. Parts of the adobe walls are visible as the site is closed off for future discovery.
  • some additional buildings – perhaps related to the school and education center.

A good time to visit the Mission might be during the annual Festival of the Bells, which celebrates the anniversary of the mission in July.

No. 784: El Camino Real (As Father Serra Knew It and Helped Blaze It)

Further to the left of the gift shop entrance, as you get closer to the chapel facade, there’s another California Historical Landmark plaque in the wall:

Plaque text:

    EL CAMINO REAL
    This plaque is placed on the 250th anniversary of the birth of California's apostle, Padre Junipero Serra, O.F.M., to mark the southern terminus of El Camino Real as Padre Serra knew it and helped to blaze it.

    1713 - November 24 - 1963

    California Registered Historical Landmark No. 784

    Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Committee for El Camino Real. December 29, 1963

About El Camino Real:
El Camino Real (or Royal Highway) was the network of roads that connected the 21 missions of California. There is a matching plaque at the Mission San Francisco de Asis as the northern terminus of Father Serra’s El Camino Real (the Mission Trail itself extends further north from San Francisco to the mission in Sonoma, which was built in 1823.

Mission Bells and La Playa Trail:

Also at the mission site, are several Mission Bells from the El Camino Real marker bells from the early 1900s. Donated by the Pacific Beach Women’s Club, they likely were relocated during the development of PB to the mission, where they now line the driveway from Mission Center Road up the hill to the church. And in the lower parking lot, there is one more marker of note:

La Playa Trail Marker – The La Playa Trail is considered the oldest commercial trail in the western United States/oldest European trail along the Pacific Coast. Starting off as a Native American route, it entered commercial service as the route that connected the Presidio to La Playa (where the ships landed in San Diego Bay, along the bayside of Point Loma) and then later expanded east when the Mission moved further east. The La Playa Trail Association’s website has more history about the trail and its original six commemorative markers placed in 1934.

Location:
Mission San Diego is located in the eastern portion of Mission Valley, just off of Interstate 8 and Interstate 15 in San Diego.

    Mission San Diego
    10818 San Diego Mission Road
    San Diego, CA 92108

Both California Historical Landmark plaques are located along the front wall of the courtyard, facing the outside, along with several other historical marker plaques and alcoves containing statuary representing the namesakes of the missions in the Franciscan mission system.

The plaque for No. 784 (El Camino Real) is located closest to the chapel, while the plaque for No. 242 is located to the right of the entryway to the gift shop/visitor entrance.

Photos:
View all the photos from my visit to Mission San Diego de Alcala in my flickr album.