San Juan

Our Mission

San Juan Bautista

The mission of California State Parks is
to provide for the health, inspiration and

Bautista education of the people of California by

helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary
biological diversity, protecting its most
echoed with the ring
State Historic Park valued natural and cultural resources, and of the blacksmith’s
creating opportunities for high-quality
outdoor recreation. anvil and the whinnies

of stagecoach horses
carrying passengers
from all over the world.
California State Parks supports equal access.
Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who
need assistance should contact the park at
(831) 623-4526. This publication is available
in alternate formats by contacting:

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) 623-4526
© 2009 California State Parks Printed on Recycled Paper
I magine a Colonization region, José Tibúrcio Castro, oversaw the
place where you On February 24, seizure and sale of mission property.
can step back 1797, Father Fermin Park Buildings
into history and Lasuén, Franciscan
Castro/Breen Adobe—José Tibúrcio Castro
walk the paths of successor to Father
commissioned this adobe home in 1838
Native Californians, Junípero Serra,
for his son, Mexican General José Antonio
Spanish padres, founded Mission
Castro. General Castro was appointed
Mexican San Juan Bautista.
commander of the Monterey District of Alta
government Named after Saint
California in 1834 and acted as governor
officials, European John the Baptist, the
Travelers at the Plaza Hotel, ca. 1875 until 1836. In 1846 western pathfinder John
immigrants, miners mission was one of
C. Frémont and frontier legend Kit Carson
and Victorian ladies all in one place. 21 built to convert local Native Americans
planted the first U.S. flag over California on
Mission San Juan Bautista, California’s to the Spanish way of life, subject them to
Gavilan Peak (now Fremont Peak), above the
fifteenth mission, was built in the southern Spanish civil law, and teach them to run a
San Juan Valley. General Castro demanded
portion of the San Juan Valley, at the pueblo, or self-sufficent community.
that Frémont’s group leave Mexico’s
foot of low hills along the San Andreas Father Lasuén’s padres used Mutsun labor
territory; they left after three
earthquake fault line. Although the mission and recruited Yokuts and Miwok people
tense days.
played a central role in San Juan Bautista’s from as far away as the Sierra foothills.
The adobe was completed in 1841, but
development, it is not part of the state park. The Franciscan fathers called the native
General Castro’s duties elsewhere kept him
San Juan Bautista State Historic Park people “neophytes” after their conversion
away from his new home. In 1848, Patrick
encompasses historic buildings, gardens and to Catholicism. As the mission’s labor force,
and Margaret Breen arrived penniless in San
picnic areas that offer visitors the opportunity the native people made adobe bricks,
Juan with their seven children. The entire
to experience life as it was in early California constructed buildings, raised crops and
family had survived 111 days in the Sierra
between 1859 and 1890. cared for livestock. The mission’s olives,
Nevada snow as members of the Donner
wheat, wool, hides and tallow supplied the
PARK HISTORY party of 1846. A sympathetic General Castro
growing colony.
Native People allowed the Breens to live in his home until
Thousands of the mission’s neophytes
For thousands of years, this area was they could afford to buy it.
were eventually buried in the church
originally populated by the Mutsun people, Sixteen-year-old son John Breen set
cemetery. The remaining few Mutsun
who lived in the basin surrounding the Pajaro off for the gold fields in 1848, soon
integrated with Yokuts and Miwok
River. The region they called Popeloutchom returning with over $10,000 in gold
to become the present-day Amah
is now called the San Juan Valley. dust. The Breen family used John’s
Mutsun Tribal Band.
Each Mutsun village had dome-shaped profits to purchase the adobe from
Following Mexico’s independence
tule homes (ruk), granaries, a sweat house the Castros, as well as 400 acres
from Spain in 1821, the missions
and outlying camps. A Mutsun village called of prime farmland. The Breens
were secularized—converted from
Trahtrahk (place of many springs) stood on owned the adobe until 1933, when it
church property to private property.
the site of present-day San Juan Bautista. became part of the State Park System.
Mexico’s civil administrator for the General José
Antonio Castro
 Castro/Breen courtyard Zanetta House parlor Plaza stable Preparing bread for the horno

Plaza Hotel—The hotel, now a museum and Plaza Stable, Blacksmith Shop—Horses also cracked many of the town buildings.
park entrance point, was a one-story adobe pulled the busy stagecoach and wagon The San Andreas fault is located at the end
built in 1814 in the Spanish colonial style. traffic through San Juan Bautista when it of the plaza east of the hotel. At the top of the
The building first served as barracks for the was a transportation hub on El Camino Real hill near a statue, visitors can stand on the edge
Spanish soldiers who protected the mission. between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Up of the Pacific tectonic plate. The fault scarp
In 1856 Italian immigrant Angelo Zanetta to eleven stages arrived and departed daily. formation, where the earth shifted between the
leased the building and added a redwood Eventually, trains replaced stagecoaches; Pacific and the North American tectonic plates,
second story; the building then became the when the railroad line bypassed the town for can be seen at the base of the hill.
Plaza Hotel. The hotel opened in January Hollister in 1876, San Juan Bautista declined.
1859, attracting patrons for both its fine Exhibits in the stable and blacksmith shop programs and events
French and Italian cuisine and its saloon. area include stages, wagons, carriages and Living History Days—On the first Saturday
Travelers from around the world were guests fire wagon. of each month, costumed docents reenact
at the hotel. Several buildings at San Juan Bautista SHP daily life in California history, such as the
Plaza Hall/Zanetta House—Angelo Zanetta today stand on the sites of or incorporate stagecoach era and the hotel’s heyday.
remodeled the hall on the site of an earlier earlier mission structures, probably built by A summer celebration called Early
mission building; he later moved in with his native people. The stone foundations of two Days features costumed early California
family. Many elegant events were held in the narrow adobe row houses that once housed residents and mountain men, blacksmithing
grand ballroom upstairs. Period furnishings neophyte families lie hidden underground in demonstrations, sarsaparilla tasting and
are on display, and one child’s room in the the Taix lot south of the park headquarters. other events.
exhibit features 1800s-era toys. The original buildings are no longer visible,
but the stories of their inhabitants are ACCESSIBLE FEATURES
Plaza/Courtyard—Spanish pueblos were The Castro/Breen Adobe, the first floor of the
preserved in the archaeological deposits
usually built around a central courtyard or Plaza Hotel/Museum Store, the gardens and
that remain.
plaza that was used for bullfights, bearfights, the restrooms are accessible. A ramped entry
cockfights, parades and social gatherings. NATURAL HISTORY allows access to the stables, the blacksmith
Early residents baked bread in igloo-shaped Due to the town’s location along the San shop, and the Plaza Hall/Zanetta House.
outdoor ovens called hornos, and dried Andreas fault, San Juan Bautista’s buildings Assisted listening devices are also available.
cowhides in the plaza. The courtyard behind have sustained severe earthquake damage. Call the park staff in advance at (831) 623-4526
the Castro/Breen Adobe has a gristmill, an Up to six quakes per day shook the town for to arrange access. For updates, visit
horno, and a tallow display. 19 straight days in 1800. The 1906 earthquake 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 be
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) 623-4526 or
visit www.parks.ca.gov/sjbshp

NEARBY STATE PARKS

• Fremont Peak State Park (and
Observatory), 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
(408) 779-2728
• Monterey State Historic
Park, 20 Custom House Plaza,
near Fisherman’s Wharf in
Monterey (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
www.plazahistory.org