Santa Barbara

Mission Santa Barbara

Another day, another mission – this time we saw the Mission of Santa Barbara. This is the only mission we’ve visited that has been continually run by the Franciscans since it was founded in 1786. The church was built based on a book on Roman architecture which the priests had carried from Spain. The church is now the fourth on that site, build in 1820 after the 1812 earthquake. It also suffered earthquake damage again in 1925, and as a consequence it’s now mostly made of stone rather than adobe. This church, grounds, and museum were definitely the best we’ve seen so far.

            We headed downtown to see the County building which is a cross between a church, and a roman building. We started at the clock tower to get a view of the city and as we were headed down we were next to the clock room as the bells were chiming noon, watching the bells ring and fly wheels spin. The ceilings here were almost like a castle with hand painted designs. The primary assembly room had huge murals depicting the history of the area. Definitely not your run of the mill courthouse. 

Assembly Room in the Santa Barbara Courthouse

             We ate lunch downtown and then went to the El Presidio park. Santa Barbara had the last of four military outposts built in California. This post had rooms for 55 soldiers and their families as well as a church and the office of the Governor of the area. After visiting yesterday’s mission, this was a disappointment, they are in a multiple year project to reconstruct this. It will be difficult since it is right in the center of downtown. Today, they have one wall, the governors room, and the church rebuilt.

            On our way out of town we stopped at Stearn’s Wharf for a brief walk and a beer. This wharf was the first built in California. Today, it has a number of restaurants, a museum, and a bait shop. It was a good way to cool down at the end of the day.