A Trip to Tubac

One of Tubac's many shops.

About a week ago, Keith and I took a day-trip to a little town called Tubac.  Just south of Tucson and about 30 miles from the Mexican border, the town is populated with artists and craftsmen as well as a few snowbirds.  There are numerous shops, galleries, and restaurants that lure tourists to browse and indulge.  We visited our favorite galleries and then decided to tour the historic Presidio.





The Tubac Presidio became Arizona's first state park in 1958.  Although not much remains of the actual fort today, visitors can still take a self-guided tour of the grounds, view boundary lines and artifacts, and even venture underground to see a partial excavation of the bastion's foundations.  Properly named San Ignacio de Tubac, the fort is the oldest Spanish Presidio in Arizona, having been established in 1752.  It is also a rarity.  Development has eliminated remains of other New Spain forts.  Six governments installed calvalry at Tubac:  New Spain, Mexico, the United States, New Mexico Territory, the Confederate States of America, and Arizona Territory.  Juan Bautista de Anza III, famous for leading a California-bound expedition that later resulted in the founding of San Francisco, was the second commander of Tubac Presidio.   Eventually, the fort was deserted due to insistent marauding by the Apache tribe.  The town of Tubac, however, continued, albeit sometimes with only a handful of residents. 

The park also preserves one of the Territory's oldest schoolhouses, which we found interesting in itself.  On the blackboard were written penalties for student offenses, ranging from tardiness to smoking and drinking.  These were assigned a specific number of  "lashes," so I figure that the proverbial "wood-shed" saw a lot of activity "back in the day."

Along with the schoolhouse, the park preserves the historic Rojas House, a typical barrio home.  There's an excellent museum with numerous artifacts discovered at the site, including a hand-cranked printing press that published Arizona's first newspaper back in 1859.

Add caption

The Tubac Presidio offers an enlightening look back at early Arizona--from the time of Father Kino to its heyday as a mining town.   It was an enjoyable, educational diversion from copper artwork, paintings, and talavera.