History buffs are celebrating 150 years of California State Parks with the unveiling of a monument and plaque celebrating historic buildings in downtown San Juan Bautista next month.
“I think it will be nice to have the plaque out there because even when the park gets closed, it will be available to the public,” said Nikki Combs, a state park interpreter for the site. “People just walking down the street can stop and read about the significance of the buildings out there.”
The San Juan Bautista State Historic Park and the Plaza History Association are sponsoring a dedication at noon April 4 to celebrate the Plaza Hotel and Castro/Breen Adobe, which border the grass in front of Old Mission San Juan Bautista. The first part of the Plaza Hotel was built in 1814 and was originally soldiers’ barracks, which were converted into rooms for out-of-town guests in 1856, Combs said.
The Castro Breen Adobe, with its red tile roof and full-length balcony, originally belonged to General Jose Antonio Castro, who was a political and military leader in the 1830s. Castro used the house as a residence for his secretary and an administrative base for his military operations.
Later, the Breen family trekked into the golden state with the infamously ill-fated Donner Party. While crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the travelers became stranded without supplies for 111 days during the snowstorms of 1846, according to a California State Parks statement.
“They survived the entrapment up there in the snow. And their seven children survived too,” Combs said. “It’s a pretty incredible story.”
Once in California, the family’s eldest son, 16-year-old John Breen, returned to the mountains to seek his fortune. He found $10,000 worth of gold dust, enough to purchase the Castro building along with 400 acres of prime agricultural land in the San Juan Valley.
The celebration of the two buildings coincides with the SanJuan Bautista State Historic Park and the Plaza History Association’s Living History event, where volunteers don dresses and hats to play the parts of mountain men, civil war soldiers and Victorian ladies. The costumed people run craft and cooking demonstrations from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the plaza.
Event goers can also see historic carriages in the Plaza Stables and Victorian era furnishings in the Plaza Hotel and Zanetta home.
Refreshments will be served after the dedication ceremony. RSVP by April 3 to Combs by calling (831) 623-2753 or emailing
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