Local segment of trail has new leadership
The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, part of which
runs through San Juan Bautista, has a new superintendent.
Naomi Torres, who has been involved with the trail for several
years, began her term last month in the trail’s Oakland office. She
recently was chief of interpretation for the John Muir National
Historic Site in Martinez, where she assisted trail staff on the
development and site coordination of the first permanent Anza Trail
exhibit.
Local segment of trail has new leadership
The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, part of which runs through San Juan Bautista, has a new superintendent.
Naomi Torres, who has been involved with the trail for several years, began her term last month in the trail’s Oakland office. She recently was chief of interpretation for the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, where she assisted trail staff on the development and site coordination of the first permanent Anza Trail exhibit.
Torres, a native of El Paso, Texas, wrote in the recent Anza Trail newsletter, “Noticias de Anza,” that she is “personally familiar with the cultural and landscape geography of the areas covered by the trail. I look forward to meeting and working with all of the wonderful partners along the trail.”
As a National Park Service interpretation manager at The Presidio in San Francisco, Torres worked with representatives of the Presidio Trust and community members on an annual, week-long event that commemorates the Spanish, Mexican and Native American history of The Presidio, which coincides with the arrival of Anza expedition settlers in June 1776.
The Anza Trail is marked with a small sign along Old Stagecoach Road west of San Juan Bautista. The trail was traversed by a nearly 300-person expedition led by Juan Bautista de Anza just months before the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Their goal was to help colonize Northern California and establish a presidio and mission near San Francisco Bay. The entire Anza Trail spans some 1,200 miles from the Arizona-Mexico border to San Francisco – roughly along the path of Highway 101.
