On December 18, at 5:30 pm, the Coronado Historical Association will host their final Wine & Lecture Series event of the year with a presentation by well-known author and archaeologist Richard L. Carrico. Mr. Carrico will tell the story of Alta California’s first Spanish settlement on what is now Presidio Hill. Carrico stresses that the roots of early Spanish California were on that hill above Old Town, not at the Mission located later to the east in Mission Valley.
Founded in 1769, the ruins of the first mission and fort lie buried beneath the landscaped grassy hills in Presidio Park. In his just-released book on the San Diego Presidio, Professor Carrico delves into the men, women, and children who lived, and sometimes died at the presidio. Carrico said he wrote the book because there was no single, accessible book where tourists and locals alike could learn the fascinating story of the historic ruins and its people. He also wanted to ensure that the story of the local Kumeyaay and other Native people at the presidio was front and center. One example is Sinusin, a Kumeyaay woman from a South Bay village who married a Spanish soldier and lived at the presidio. Carrico follows her life from marriage, child rearing at the Presidio, and her death at Mission Santa Barbara.
Carrico’s extensive research on the presidio and its people included materials from Spanish archives housed in Mexico City and Berkeley, Kumeyaay oral tradition, and nearly a decade of archaeological excavation at the site; two of which Professor Carrico himself directed.
In addition to more than 30 publications in professional journals, Richard is the author of an award-winning true crime book, Monsters on the Loose (2024), History of Wines and Wineries of San Diego County (2016), Images of Ramona, and the revised award-winning Strangers in a Stolen Land: The Indians of San Diego County (2018).
Beyond the academic realm, Richard has authored historically or archaeologically based articles for the Reader, San Diego Union, California Magazine, Ranch and Coast Magazine, San Diego Home & Garden, and other popular magazines. He has also authored stand-alone chapters in four academic books.
The event will begin at 5:30 pm with a wine and cheese reception, followed at 6 with the presentation by Mr. Carrico and a book signing of his newest book, El Presidio de San Diego: Excavating Southern California’s Lost City. Reservations for the event can be made at www.coronadohistory.org/.
