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Free Traveling Guides » States » California » San Diego
Old Town
Old Town San Diego is considered to be the birthplace of modern-day California. In 1769 Father Junipero Serra came to San Diego to establish the first mission in a chain of 21 and this mission ended up being the place around which the colonization of California took place. Father Serra’s mission is located in Presidio Park and it overlooks the Old Town. In 1846, a U.S. Marine Lieutenant and Navy Lieutenant raised the American flag in the Old Town San Diego Plaza.
State of California Department of Park and Recreation designated Old Town as a State Historic Park in 1968 with the aim of preserving the heritage that was part of San Diego between 1821 and 1872. The Old Town today includes a main plaza, exhibits, museums and live history demonstrations.
The Old Town has many historical building like La Casa de Estudillo, La Casa de Bandini, La Casa de Altamirno Pedrorena and the Mason Street School. The school was the first one room schoolhouse in San Diego.
The Old Town has three historic parks: Presidio Park, Heritage Park and Old Town San Diego Historic State Park. Just up the hill from Old Town San Diego Historic State Park is the Heritage Park. Most of the Victorian homes have been relocated to the Heritage Park and they have been restored to their original grandeur and splendor. A short walk will take you to the San Diego Avenue where the Whaley House is located. The Whaley House is an officially designated haunted house. The Little Adobe Chapel on Conde Street and the 1850 Catholic cemetery on San Diego Avenue are well worth a visit in Old Town.
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is located at the northern end of Old Town. It is also the most visited park in the State and all the museums in the Park are free to public. You can view the 1825 Casa Estudillo, one of the best adobe haciendas in the State or you can go to Wells Fargo Museum to see an original stagecoach. At the Robinson-Rose House, a lodge of the Freemasons and home of The San Diego Herald, you can see a scale model of Old Town as it was in the nineteenth century.
Most of the historic museums are located in the center of Old Town. The Whaley House Museum Complex is made up of five historic buildings with Whaley House being the most famous haunted house in America. In addition, there is the Old Adobe Chapel, San Diego’s former parochial church, as well as the first commercial theater. Most of the museums in Old Town are located along the main thoroughfare, San Diego Avenue.
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