- Limit: 15 AHS Members
- Date: Saturday, February 18th
- Time: 9:30 – 11:30 AM
- Cost: $5 per member, AHS will pay the other half of the $10 tour fee
- Lunch on your own at Barrio Brewing Co.
- Directions to Mission Garden: [registrants will receive directions after registration opens]
Tucson’s founding began with the siting of the Tucson Presidio in 1775. The Spanish Captain Hugo O’Oconór authorized construction of the Presidio fort above the east bank of the Santa Cruz River to protect the O’odham settlement of S-cuk Son (from which we get the name Tucson) and Mission San Agustín (in use by 1773), located across the river to the west beneath Sentinel Peak (“A” Mountain).
On this easy walking tour, we will explore the site of Mission San Agustín, speculate on the exact location of S-cuk Son, and tour the modern-day reconstruction of Mission Garden, the walled Spanish orchard and garden that served the mission complex. The tour will be led by Chuck Graf, long-time member and supporter of AHS since the era of the First Annual AHS Symposium, and current docent and board member of Mission Garden. Chuck also will discuss past and present hydrological and water supply conditions relating to the Garden, and issues relating to the long closed A-Mountain Landfill that abuts the Garden on its eastern and southern sides.
Mission Garden is a living agricultural museum of heritage fruit trees, traditional local heirloom crops, and edible native plants that celebrates the more than 4000 years of continuous cultivation. The tour date coincides with Traditional O’odham Agriculture Day. This might be of interest to some AHS members, either before or after the tour. It is an informal come-and-go chat in the garden with our wonderful Maegan Lopez, a young O’odham expert on traditional and current O’odham agricultural practices. Mission Garden’s showcasing of Tucson’s diverse cultural, historical, and culinary traditions is a key reason for designation of the city in 2015 as the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the United States.