Santa Barbara Presidio

Founded April 21, 1782, the Santa Barbara Royal Presidio was the last in a chain of four military fortresses built by the Spanish along the coast of Alta California, then a wilderness frontier. Others had been established at San Diego, San Francisco and Monterey. Padre Junípero Serra, well known for his leadership in founding the California missions, blessed the site of the Santa Barbara Presidio four years prior to the establishment of the Mission of Santa Barbara in 1786.


Our Cub Scouts and families attended Founding Day on Saturday.  Activities included making adobe bricks, seeing a presentation of the way wool was spun, seeing a real black smith work iron, watching participants in Spanish uniform, hearing a hymn sung as Fr. Junipero Serra would have sung it when he dedicated the Presidio chapel, making pottery bowls, digging up pieces of pottery and glass in an archeological dig, and seeing them fire off a canon twice.

Other boys covered their ears from the din, but Stephen is used to this noise level at home.

The kids really enjoyed making adobe bricks, but we wondered why.  Isn't this what they do in the back yard every day?