The white stucco walls of El Presidio de Santa Barbara surround a quiet central courtyard, marked by the sharp contrast of red tile roofs against the sky. Built by the Spanish military in seventeen eighty-two, this fort served as the last of four royal presidios in Alta California. A soldier named Jose Francisco Ortega oversaw the construction here, housing his men in crude stick-and-mud huts before they moved into the permanent adobe structures that remain on this site today.
El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park
park garden
The audio tour continues in the Mira app →