The Presidio is a Spanish settlement outpost set during the 1700s era. It's main purpose is to house military personnel during the Spanish period. It's were the Spanish soldiers were living together with their families. It is like a fortress where they do their military drills and kept their fire arms. It is a small community completely equipped with a church, houses, barns, gardens, lecture rooms, offices, etc.
Right now a portion of it was been preserved because the rest of the structures were damaged by many Californian earthquakes and were already abolished and highly occupied by the booming residential and commercial places. The preserved areas were now managed by the California State Parks and is one of the property of the State of California which depicted the state's cultures, ways, customs, diversity, and the various life of old California.
When I arrived to Santa Barbara I have a hard time looking for a legal parking because the Presidio was been located at the crowded heart and busy area of the downtown and the streets there were all one ways. Luckily I spotted a guy getting inside his topped down yellow Mustang so I waited for a little while until he left and then viola I have a decent parking after looking and roaming around the area for ten minutes looking for a parking.
I parked my car legally and got out from it, then I gradually walked for a half block towards the Presidio. I then crossed the street towards the main portion of the Presidio on the other side of the street which consisted of the small church or chapel and the main offices and a museum. I then started to click my camera and took a lot of pictures for my online blog and album.
I also started to peruse and searched the place responsibly following the arrows that gave directions and instructions where to go to the visitors like me. I stopped first at the museum and asked a little bit of the history of the place and the docent who was present there was very helpful. After talking intimately to the docent who helped me for everything that I needed to know about the Presidio I started to roam around and amusingly checked each and every structures which also had some little exhibits inside.
The little church was an adobe structure and the walls was been painted in white. The front clay courtyard had a flagpole and the American flag was been swaying gaily and was being played by the tease of the warm afternoon wind. The adjacent rooms spanned horizontally from both sides of the church forming a wall structure that resembles to a garrison or a fortification to guard the community and I followed the rooms from the church going eastward and made a right turn towards the back lot which was converted into an orange grove courtyard.
I checked also some structures at the back lot which was converted as offices for the volunteers and from there I can see the other toppled walls and rugged fortifications of the entire structure which they still preserved for the visitors and strollers to see how big the area really is. I also saw an outdoor domed oven near the priest's quarters and then I went towards the back of the church which was the old barn now was converted as the administration office of the California State Parks and Services.
At the left side of the church facing north were the soldiers quarters and flanked with it was the mess hall and the commandant's quarters. There were replicas of various items during the Spanish period inside each rooms like the wooden cabinets and slatted bunk beds and also some wooden tables and benches at the mess hall can be found. There were also playgrounds where the soldiers play and a small garden with a minute fountain at the center.
Across the street was another structure which looks like a domesticated housing structures for the soldier's families. There were children's bedroom in there and a family room. At the backyard were grapevines and vegetable gardens and there were also haystacks and a looming machine in one of the rooms. It was fascinating to see how the Spaniards thrive in the Presidio as depicted in what I have seen there.
In that structure there was also a small museum which showcased the firearms as well as different cutting instruments like knives, swords, and bolos as well as spears and spitting tubes with various needles and also an array of bows and arrows depicting primitive military gadgets. There were also gardening tools in that museum like hoes, trowels, spades, wheelbarrows, scythes, hammers, etc. There were also barrels of gunpowders stacked in the armory and many more war related equipments like portable canons circa 1700's.
My visit at the Presidio was very interesting, informative, and educational. Albeit, I can see the religious aspect of it also because of the presence of the very intricate altar of the church. The chapel's ceiling were lined with intricate rows of reed straws and the altar was very very simple yet pretty and meticulous. There were no chairs reminiscent of that era because the chairs that were there at that moment were all leathered chairs. There was a painting of the Guadalupe on one wall and also a painting of the Assumption on the opposite wall.
Roaming around there I can feel the culture and the practices of the Spanish people. It was very nice to have done it and harmonize with the past. I am glad I decided to pass by there while on my way to Solvang. Have I not done it I probably haven't had any idea that this preserved structure was still existing. I am proud that I did it because I get to know the cultures of the Californians living in the 1700s. The collision of the Spanish and Mexican cultures coupled with the culture of the indigenous Californian Indians were been revitalized in that amazing structure and came into terms during that period.
It was nice for the State of California to have took the responsibility of taking care of the old structures and have preserved it for the visitors, tourists, revelers, strollers, and locals to know and educate about the cultures of the different people who had lived there as well as preserved a part of the history of California which depicted a lot of Californian ways and lives.
It was a very fruitful trip and the stroll around the Presidio was enjoyable and luckily I took a lot of pictures of it for my online albums. Every step I made there depicted a lot of California history. I was very keen in reading everything I saw because I am very interested in learning a lot about the Presidio itself as well as the patterns of life that had evolved in that fascinating place. So far, it was very entertaining and informative as well. I did not regret coming there even though I wasted my time there before heading to Solvang but it was worth the stroll.
Yes, I was very happy and ecstatic I did it and I was smiling jovially and extremely joyful when I left there because I knew it had given me another knowledge and perspective about the rich cultural history and intriguing place of Santa Barbara and California in general. My trips had always given me a lot of notable facts and tangible visual artifacts and I love doing it all the time. I never been happier after I did that long stroll around the Presidio, thank God.
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