All News
Blacksmith Moises Solis
by Karen Anderson On December 31, 2011, Moises Solis retired from State Parks after 35 years of service. He worked at La Purisima Mission State Historic Park, as well as El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park, technically as a Maintenance Worker 1, but more famously as blacksmith. For the Presidio and for the [...]
- “Mapping the Past” – The Santa Barbara Post Office Project, Part II
- Tell the Story of the Beginning of Santa Barbara
- What’s Beneath our Feet! Using Geophysical Survey Techniques as an Archaeological Tool
- Clay Tiles, Giant Beets and Adobe Bricks: Reminiscences of an SBTHP Volunteer
- Northwest Corner Reconstruction Project: Rebuilding a Defense Wall, one brick at a time!
Archaeology
The Button Hole: Part II
by Wayne Sherman (Did you miss part 1? You can find it here.) This past summer, students in SBTHP’s Presidio Archaeological Field School, a partnership with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, found a Civil War-era button behind the Presidio Chapel. This button is known as a General Service button and is found on uniforms in [...]
Collections
Digitizing the Past: the Delfina de la Guerra Collection
by Katherine Lowe In the course of scanning items for the Delfina de la Guerra collection, we discovered that certain formats would not fit or were too delicate to be placed on the scanner bed. What’s a Research Center to do? Call in a photographer, of course! A local photographer, Lael Wageneck, volunteered his time [...]
Education Programs
Rich in History and Rich in Taste
by Amanda Gonzalez Tamale making is a Meso-American tradition with a history that can be traced back to the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. For centuries, Santa Barbara’s Presidio Neighborhood has been home to people of Mexican descent. In honor of Santa Barbara’s rich Mexican history, the last workshop from the Arts and Traditions of the [...]
Exhibits
Back By Popular Demand: A Legacy Set in Stone
If you missed our popular exhibit, “A Legacy Set in Stone: Santa Barbara Stone Architecture 1870-1940,” you are in luck. The exhibit has been reinstalled at Casa de la Guerra and will be on display through the end of the year. The Casa is open from 12:00-4:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Do you want to [...]
Gardens
Garden Update: An Abundance of Radishes!
In Santa Barbara, we are lucky enough to garden year-round. This fall, our garden interns from Anacapa School, Corinna and Gazal, planted a winter garden at the Presidio’s Northeast corner, and we have been eagerly watching the tiny seedlings sprout and unfurl tender new leaves. The biggest success so far? Radishes. Lots of radishes. [...]
Preservation Projects
Pico Adobe Roof Project
by Mike Imwalle The Buenaventura Pico adobe is a hidden gem within El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park. The Mexican-period adobe is unique in that it was designed with a relatively steep-pitched shingle roof rather than the typical low-pitched tile roof popular in the Spanish period adobes that preceded it. Despite the fact [...]
Research Center
Sharing Memories is a Gift to the Future
by Anne Petersen This week we recorded an oral history with Presidio descendant Juan “Jack” Santiago Calderon. His daughter, Suzi Calderon Bellman, whose friendly face we have gotten used to seeing at the Presidio Research Center, also attended. Mary Louise Days, board member and co-chair of the Research Center Committee, conducted the interview in the [...]
Santa Inés Mission Mills
Volunteer Olive Picking Day at the Santa Ines Mission Mills 2011
by Wayne Sherman This year marks the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation’s (SBTHP) third Volunteer Day at the Santa Inés Mission Mills and the second time we have focused the day’s event around harvesting the crop. Last year we had wanted to plant trees but were forced to pick olives on the east side [...]
More Articles
Remembering the Civil War in Santa Barbara and the Grand Army of the Republic on Veterans Day, 2011
Wayne Sherman gave the keynote address at this year’s Veterans Day ceremony at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park. We are printing his remarks here for your enjoyment. SBTHP would like to thank Wayne for sharing these words with us; he inspired us all to honor and remember our nation’s veterans. To read [...]
Holidays at the Presidio: La Pastorela
by Noah Tucker This year’s production of La Pastorela came to a wrap Sunday December 18, and the performance was, simply put, fantastic. Performed inside the Santa Barbara Presidio Chapel, the play centers around a small group of shepherds who are attempting to make their way to Bethlehem in order to witness the birth of [...]
Midwinter Solstice Illumination of the Santa Barbara Presidio Chapel
by Mike Imwalle First documented in December 2008 by Dr. Ruben Mendoza of California State University, Monterey Bay, the illumination of the Presidio Chapel altar was witnessed by a handful of Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation Board, staff, and volunteers again this morning! Dr. Mendoza’s study of archaeology, history, and sacred geometry of early [...]
Our Neighbors at The Anacapa School Turn 30!
by Michael H. Imwalle In 1981, Gordon Sichi joined Dr. Robert Everhart and a group of Santa Barbara parents in founding a new independent high school in Santa Barbara to serve students and families who wanted a high-quality college preparatory education in a small school setting. They believed strongly that a small and personalized school [...]
Tule Mat Making: A Lesson in Resourcefulness
by Amanda Gonzalez On Saturday, October 8 the second workshop from the Arts and Traditions of the Presidio Neighborhood Workshop Series was held in the comedor of the historic Casa de la Guerra house museum. Karen Osland, experienced docent, expert on Native California plants and basketry for over 25 years, and co-owner of Lavenpine Consulting, [...]
Early California Dance Workshop: Saturday, November 5
By Diana Replogle-Purinton When is the last time YOU got up and danced? Humans have danced for joy and sorrow, birth and death, and to get close to the opposite sex … especially to get close to the opposite sex, for millennia. During the era when young ladies were heavily chaperoned anytime they left the [...]
Sugar Treats … Not to Eat!: Dia de los Muertos Craft Day, Sunday, October 30th
By Karen Schultz Anderson When children come to our Dia de los Muertos Craft Day, they are often drawn to sugar skulls waiting to be individually decorated (but not eaten!). These sugar skulls are an important part of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is celebrated in Mexico and other Latin [...]
Hot Off the Press!
SBTHP has been awarded the Trustees Emeritus Award for Excellence for the Stewardship of Historic Sites from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Our team traveled to the National Preservation Conference in Buffalo, NY, to receive the award. Here they are yesterday after the awards ceremony. Way to go SBTHP!
Taiko Drums at the Santa Barbara Presidio
By M. Kay Van Horn The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation began plans in 2009 for an Asian Festival to honor and remember the Japanese and Chinese American families who once lived on the Presidio property located on Canon Perdido and Santa Barbara Streets prior to and after World War II. I reminded the [...]
