San Deigo Historic Site 67 SERRA PALM SITE

This palm and one other are said to have been planted in 1769, when Father Serra arrived with Portola, to found San Diego as a base for the settlement of California. Near here, on slopes of Presidio Hill which have been cut away since, lay the Spanish cemetery used from 1769 to 1849. Also nearby was thecamp of Captain Rivera y Moncada, who led the advance party of the Sacred Expedition into San Diego two months before Portola and Serra followed his trail here. Within his defenses Captain Rivera had a corral, some huts forhis soldiers, and a hospital for sailors from the supply ships, who were dying of scurvy. Captain Rivera pitched his camp at Cosoy, an Indian rancheria.

The last of the two date palms, the oldest planted tree in California, was cutdown June 6, 1957. It had been ailing for years, having been used for target practice by Nineteenth Century gunmen, to such an extent as to impair its health. Increasing height added. to problems of circulation which are incidentto age in so many species.

The two palms stood beside Taylor Street, in the corner of Presidio Park closest to Chestnut Street.