San Juan Bautista, California History

The City of San Juan Bautista, California offers a rare and only example in California of a Spanish plaza. It is also part of an historic 1,000+ mile route taken by Juan Bautista de Anza beginning in the 1700's in his journey commemorated by the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.  San Juan Bautista was built along the El Camino Real (King's Road)  on which the missions were established, usually a day's trip from one to the next.  Old Mission San Juan Bautista, the largest of the California missions, a State Historic Park with the only Spanish Plaza left in California, and a National Register of Historic Places San Juan Bautista Commercial District make this an enlightening excursion off the main Interstate 101.

San Juan Bautista was once the largest town in central California and the crossroads of travel between Monterey and San Jose. José Tibúrcio Castro was the civil and secular administrator of the Mission San Juan Bautista. The Castro House was built between 1838-41 at the request of his son, José Antonio, who had become prefect of the northern district of Alta California. The town was temporarily known as San Juan de Castro. General José Antonio Castro's military headquarters can be viewed at the State Park. Neither General José Antonio Castro nor José Tibúrcio Castro descend from Joaquín Isidro de Castro's family who came with Anza.

Notes from history about the route: After delivering the colonists to the presidio of Monterey, Anza rested and then set out on March 23, 1776 with Lieutenant Joaquin Moraga, Father Pedro Font, a corporal and two soldiers from the Monterey Presidio and eight of his soldiers to explore the San Francisco Bay area. Camping their first night at Natividad (in Salinas), they continued the next day through the future site of Mission San Juan Bautista.

From Monterey County, stay on San Juan Grade Rd. until it intersects San Juan Canyon Road/San Juan Highway. Turn left onto San Juan Highway and cross CA 156 into San Juan Bautista.  There are 3 miles of hiking trail on de Anza's historic route off San Juan Canyon Rd. at Old Stage Road.

The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail is part of the National Park Service's program, United States National Historic Trail and National Millennium Trail programs. The trail is  1,210-mile long, and extends  through the California desert and coastal areas in Southern California and the Central Coast to San Francisco. Pictured is the trail marked by a road sign in Santa Barbara County. Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona is where the trail begins on the Southern end.