Old Town San Diego State Historic Park

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park recreates life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872. Five original adobes are part of the complex, which includes shops, restaurants and a museum. La Casa de Estudillo is a mansion built around a garden courtyard. La Casa de Machado y Stewart is full of artifacts that reflect ordinary life of the period. Other historic buildings include a schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, San Diego's first newspaper office, and a stable with a carriage collection. (San Diego became California's first Spanish settlement when a mission and fort were established in 1769.)
Location-Directions
The park is located on San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street in San Diego.
Robinson-Rose House Visitor Center
James Robinson came to San Diego from Texas in the Spring of 1850 and developed a successful law practice. He built this two-story structure in 1853 to serve not only as his family residence but also as the home of the San Diego Herald, the San Diego and Gila Railroad office, as well as other private offices. Robinson died in 1857 and his widow Sarah Robinson sold the building to Louis Rose, who probably purchased it as a family residence. Fire destroyed the roof in 1874 and the building fell into ruins by the turn of the century. The reconstructed building now serves as Old Town State Historic Park's visitor center and has on display a model of Old Town as it looked in 1872, created by Joseph
Toigo.
Silvas-McCoy House
Currently under construction as a Visitor's Center for Old Town. State Park archaeologists excavated in Old Town San Diego in 1995 to recover information needed to reconstruct a large residence built in 1869 by James McCoy, a well-to-do Irish immigrant who served as San Diego’s sheriff and state senator. Prior to 1851 the property belonged to Maria Eugenia
Silvas, descendant of a Spanish Colonial soldier who came to Alta California in the
1770s.
Park Map: Click
Here (PDF format)
Park
Features
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Facilities |
Guided Tours |
Food Service |
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Parking |
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