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Annual Pacific Islander Festival |
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511TH Annual Grunion Festival |
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 Fitch-Carillo House & Juan Maria
Osuna House Discovered During Silvas/McCoy Excavation!
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San Diego Presidio Excavation is Being Reburied May 25!
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After a stay order was not granted, the legal challenge to the State Park development plan for the Silvas/McCoy Site has been dropped in Apellate Court. |
A stay order was filed on January 15th to stop construction until the matter was decided in appellate court. When the stay order was not granted and construction of the site was allowed to proceed, the Silvas complex would be lost even if the case were won in higher court. Even though the legal challenge has been dropped, landscaping and decisions about the remainder of the 3 acre site can still be changed. The legal process does not seem to be the proper course to pursue in these issues, due to the high cost and uncertainty of success. There are a number of other avenues being undertaken at this time. |
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Newly discovered while
digging a trench to put a fence around the McCoy House project
are the Fitch-Carrillo adobe and the Juan Maria Osuna adobe!
Since State Park is proceeding with the McCoy House construction
over the remains of the Silvas complex, our attention is now
toward a complete archaeological excavation of these two sites
and their eventual reconstruction. Located under the parking
lot, they are two of the earliest houses of Old Town and both
are important in San Diego and early California history.
The story of Henry Fitch and Josepha Carrillo is a romantic one
and famous in local history. This adobe is believed to
be the San Diego's oldest house, probably begun in 1810.
(To add to historical confusion, there is a plaque on the building
at the nearby golf course that incorrectly identifies it
as the Fitch-Carrillo adobe.) The Osuna adobe was most
likely built by Jose Maria Echeandia who was a governor of California
under Mexican rule. In 1838, he deeded the property to
Juan Maria Osuna, San Diego's first mayor. These houses
are great historical treasures and should be rebuilt to help
tell the fascinating stories of the people who lived in them,
as well as to increase the authentic atmosphere of Old Town.
The north wing of the Royal Presidio of San Diego has been excavated
over the past few years and is now being reburied. It is
hoped that after a study of the area has been completed, Presidio
Hill can be stabilized and the city can investigate the feasibility
of restoring at least some of the presidio as a valuable historic
resource.