Presidio de San Diego

The Serra Cross, a tall white marker standing atop the hill, identifies the site of the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Coast. Known as the Presidio of San Diego, this military garrison and mission complex was established on July sixteen, seventeen sixty-nine, when Father Junípero Serra consecrated a primitive brushwood chapel. The site served as the base for Spanish colonization in California, providing a strategic view over the San Diego River and the bay.