Old Town is considered the "birthplace" of California, housing its first permanent settlement in 1769. The original mission was built on the hillside overlooking what is now Old Town, a small Mexican community of adobe buildings lining the base of the hill. In 1834, the Mexican government granted the small community the status of Pueblo, or chartered town, and although the town's population declined over time due to the town's far distance from the water, it remained the heart of the city until the 1860s when the current San Diego downtown began to develop.
Although it has an intimate feel to it, San Diego's Old Town actually has 9 hotels, 100 specialty shops, 12 art galleries and 27 historic buildings! We naturally did not hit all of these landmarks, instead visiting a few of the key ones such as the old schoolhouse, the stables, the tin shop, the court house and the Wells Fargo Bank Museum. Boasting an original Concord Coach from the 1860s which showed the complexity of transporting money and people across the country, the Bank Museum highlighted the different way that banks conducted business 150 years ago. The most poignant piece for us was the large manual "photocopier" which through a continuous twisting motion could create a photocopy in only three minutes!
Although Geoff didn't buy any handicrafts, Natalie and Chantal did find a couple of trinkets to take home and Duncan made out with the best prize - a churro snack and a handy new song about "beans" that helped him happily pass the time waiting for the slightly delayed train back to the Gas Lamp District.
No comments:
Post a Comment