As you may know, I was the Channel Coast District Superintendent for CA State Parks from August 2000 until December 2006, before retiring from State service in 2007. During my tenure as District Superintendent, my focus in working with the SBTHP was…
Richard Oglesby is former President and longtime active member of SBTHP. He was a Professor of California history and the American West and had been teaching at a university in Illinois when he accepted a position at UCSB in 1965, where he taught…
The above interview is between Elizabeth Hvolboll and Luis Moreno, founders of El Coro del Real Presidio de Santa Barbara, a local choral group which celebrates and performs music of the Californios. The group sings in Santa Barbara’s annual Una…
Perhaps built as early as the 1820s, this small adobe is located in the middle of the Presidio headquarters block. It was originally owned by the family of Santiago de la Cruz Pico, founder of the prominent Pico clan of California. He had served as…
Rafael Gonzalez, a presidio soldier and town mayor in 1829, built this house c. 1825. The adobe was later owned by his daughter and son-in-law, Ventura and Cristobal Ramirez, and it remained in the Gonzalez family for nearly a century. Enlarged and…
The Oreña Adobes were restored in 1919-20 under the direction of James Osborne Craig, the architect of El Paseo. The buildings and the annexes have since been used for shops, a tea room, and residences. Oreña-Rickard family members now have offices…
This small wooden house was built c. 1871 for Concepcion Valdez, who resided on the property for over forty-five years. It is occupied by the Santa Cruz Island Foundation.
Although this watercolor departs from the theme of this exhibit, it was part of Haass' series of Santa Barbara paintings. This Victorian House, originally located at 422 Santa Barbara Street, was built in 1862 by Judge Charles Fernald. In 1880, the…
This small hilltop house was built c. 1860 for the family of Barbara Dominguez de Arellanes and Francisco Arellanes, descendants of some of the earliest settlers of New Spain. Their daughter, Maria de las Angustias, married Frank Kirk in 1866, and…
The one-story adobe on the right was constructed in 1849 by José de la Guerra, fifth comandante of the Santa Barbara Presidio. It was used as a storehouse for merchandise received from ships. Gaspar Oreña purchased the property and built the adjacent…
This house was built c. 1859 by Josefa Valdez de Gannon, the widow of an Irish immigrant. She later married Leandro Martinez; their daughters resided in the adobe for many decades. It was demolished in 1959.
Daniel Hill, an immigrant from Massachusetts, built this major adobe for his California-born bride, Rafaela Ortega, in 1825-26. A later owner was Captain John Wilson, whose wife, Ramona, was the mother of California Governor Romualdo Pacheco. In the…