San Juan Bautista

San Juan Bautista State Historic Park Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. San Juan Bautista echoed with the ring of the blacksmith’s anvil and the whinnies of stagecoach horses carrying passengers from California State Parks supports equal access. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at (831) 623-4881. If you need this publication in an alternate format, contact interp@parks.ca.gov. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov San Juan Bautista State Historic Park Second Street at Washington & Mariposa San Juan Bautista, CA 95045 (831) 623-4881 © 2009 California State Parks (Rev. 2016) all over the world. I magine a place where Colonization from Spain in 1821, the missions were you can step back into On June 24, secularized  —  converted from church history and walk the paths 1797, Father property to private property. Mexico’s civil of Native Californians, Fermin administrator for the region, José Tibúrcio Spanish padres, Mexican Lasuén, Castro, oversaw the seizure and sale of government officials, Franciscan mission property. Many of the neophytes European immigrants, successor who survived the mission experience miners and Victorian ladies to Father formed communities with other Mission all in one place. Junípero Indians. Today, their descendants Travelers at the Plaza Hotel, ca. 1875 Mission San Juan Serra, continue to honor and practice aspects of Bautista, California’s founded their traditional culture. fifteenth mission, was built in the southern Mission San Juan Bautista. Named after Saint PARK BUILDINGS portion of the San Juan Valley, at the John the Baptist, the mission was one of 21 foot of low hills along the San Andreas built to convert local Native Americans to the Castro/Breen Adobe  —  José Tibúrcio earthquake fault line. Although the mission Spanish way of life, subject them to Spanish Castro commissioned this adobe home played a central role in San Juan Bautista’s civil law, and teach them to run a pueblo or in 1838 for his son, Mexican General self-sufficent community. development, it is not part of the state park. José Antonio Castro. General Castro was Father Lasuén’s padres used Mutsun labor San Juan Bautista State Historic Park appointed commander of the Monterey and recruited Yokuts and Miwok people encompasses historic buildings, gardens District of Alta California in 1834 and acted from as far away as the Sierra foothills. The and picnic areas that offer visitors the as governor until 1836. In 1846 western Franciscan fathers called the native people opportunity to experience life as it was in pathfinder John C. Frémont and frontier “neophytes” after their conversion early California between 1859 and 1890. legend Kit Carson planted the first U.S. to Catholicism. As the mission’s flag over California on Gavilan Peak PARK HISTORY labor force, the native (now Fremont Peak), above the people made adobe bricks, Native People San Juan Valley. General Castro constructed buildings, For thousands of years, this area demanded that Frémont’s raised crops and cared for was originally populated by the Mutsun group leave Mexico’s livestock. The mission’s people, who lived in the basin surrounding territory; they left after three olives, wheat, wool, hides the Pajaro River. The region they called tense days. and tallow supplied the Popeloutchom is now called the San The adobe was completed growing colony. Juan Valley. in 1841, but General Castro’s Thousands of the Each Mutsun village had dome-shaped duties elsewhere kept him mission’s neophytes were tule homes (ruk), granaries, a sweat house away from his new home. eventually buried in the and outlying camps. A Mutsun village called In 1848, Patrick and Margaret church cemetery. Following Trahtrahk (place of many springs) stood on Breen arrived penniless in San General José Mexico’s independence the site of present-day San Juan Bautista. Juan with their seven children. The Antonio Castro Castro/Breen Adobe courtyard family had survived 111 days in the Sierra Nevada snow as members of the 1846 Donner party. General Castro allowed the Breens to live in the adobe until they could pay to buy it. Soon after sixteen-year-old son John Breen set off for the gold fields in 1848, he returned with more than $10,000 in gold dust. The Breens used John’s profits to purchase the Castro adobe with 400 acres of prime farmland. The Breens owned the adobe until 1933, when it became part of the State Park System. Plaza Hotel  —  The hotel, now a museum and park entrance point, was a one-story adobe built in 1814 in the Spanish colonial style. The building first served as barracks for the Spanish soldiers who protected the mission. In 1856 Italian immigrant Angelo Zanetta leased the building and added a redwood Zanetta House parlor second story; the building then became the Plaza Hotel. The hotel opened in January 1859, attracting patrons for both its fine French and Italian cuisine and its saloon. Travelers from around the world stayed at the hotel. Plaza Hall/Zanetta House  —  Angelo Zanetta remodeled the hall on the site of an earlier mission building; he later moved in with his family. Many elegant events were held in the grand ballroom upstairs. Period furnishings are on display, and one child’s room in the exhibit features 1800s-era toys. Plaza/Courtyard  —  Spanish pueblos were usually built around a central courtyard or plaza that was used for bullfights, bearfights, cockfights, parades and social gatherings. Early residents baked bread in igloo-shaped outdoor ovens called hornos, and they dried cowhides in the plaza. The Plaza stable Preparing bread for the horno courtyard behind the Castro/Breen Adobe has a gristmill, an horno and a tallow display. Plaza Stable, Blacksmith Shop  —  Horses pulled the busy stagecoach and wagon traffic through San Juan Bautista when it was a transportation hub on El Camino Real between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Up to eleven stages arrived and departed daily. Eventually, trains replaced stagecoaches; when the railroad line bypassed the town for Hollister in 1876, San Juan Bautista declined. Exhibits in the stable and blacksmith shop area include stages, wagons, carriages and fire wagons. Several buildings at San Juan Bautista SHP today stand on the sites of or incorporate earlier mission structures, probably built by native people. The stone foundations of two narrow adobe row houses that once housed neophyte families lie hidden underground in the Taix lot south of the park headquarters. The original buildings are no longer visible, but the stories of their inhabitants are preserved in the archaeological deposits that remain. NATURAL HISTORY Due to the town’s location along the San Andreas fault, San Juan Bautista’s buildings have sustained severe earthquake damage. Up to six temblors per day shook the town for 19 straight days in 1800. The 1906 San Andreas quake also left cracks in many of the town’s buildings. The San Andreas fault is located at the end of the plaza east of the hotel. At the top of the hill near a statue, visitors can stand on the edge of the Pacific tectonic plate. The fault scarp formation, where the earth shifted between the Pacific and the North American tectonic plates, can be seen at the base of the hill. PROGRAMS AND EVENTS Living History Days — On the first Saturday of each month, costumed docents reenact daily life in California history, such as the stagecoach era and the hotel’s heyday. Each Father’s Day weekend, the Early Days event features costumed early California residents and mountain men, blacksmithing demonstrations, sarsaparilla tasting and other activities. ACCESSIBLE FEATURES The Castro/Breen Adobe, the first floor of the Plaza Hotel/ Museum Store, the gardens and the restrooms are accessible. A ramped entry allows access to the stables, the blacksmith shop, and the Plaza Hall/Zanetta House. Call the park staff in advance at (831) 623-4881 to arrange access. For updates, visit http://access.parks.ca.gov. PLEASE REMEMBER • San Juan Bautista’s climate can be either foggy or very hot in spring and summer; it is often rainy and cool in winter. • All features of the park are protected by law and must not be disturbed. • Pets are not allowed in park buildings, except for service animals on leash. • The park is open for day-use only. Call the park at (831) 623-4881 or visit www.parks.ca.gov/sjbshp NEARBY STATE PARKS • Fremont Peak State Park (and Observatory www.fpoa.net), Off Highway 156, 11 miles south of San Juan Bautista on San Juan Canyon Road (831) 623-4255 • Henry W. Coe State Park, 9000 E. Dunne Ave., Morgan Hill 95037 (408) 779-2728 • Monterey State Historic Park, 20 Custom House Plaza near Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey 93940 (831) 649-7118 This park receives support in part from a nonprofit organization. For more information, contact Plaza History Association, P.O. Box 813, San Juan Bautista, CA 95045 https://sites.google.com/site/ phahistoryassociation Original El Camino Rea l San Juan Bautista S t a t e Hi s t o r i c P a r k MISSION CEMETERY Mission Church Plaza Hall/ Zanetta House SAN JUAN B AU T I S TA SHP Park Entrance Mariposa Street Plaza Stable TA I X LOT Second Street Plaza Hotel/ Museum Store Settlers Cabin Blacksmith Shop Franklin Street Plaza CastroBreen Adobe Jail Washington Street Mission Arcade Third Street Henry W Coe to Sacramento SP 101 Gilroy 152 25 San Juan Bautista Street 101 State Park Property Hollister 156 129 Legend 152 Pacheco SP San Luis Reservoir San Luis SRA Reservoir 156 San Juan Bautista SHP Salinas Hollister Hills SVRA Urban Area Sa Fremont Peak SP J1 n 0 Visitor Center to 156 10 10 r 20 Mi 20 30 Km 101 25 r 0 Pinnacles NM ve Restrooms ve Ri Ri o as Soledad Gonzales Park Building nit lin to Monterey Non-Park Building © 2009 California State Parks (Rev. 2016) Sa 68 Be Accessible Feature Los Banos to San Luis Obispo 5