Mission San Juan Bautista and El Camino Real

Leaving Monterey back in January was nowhere as easy as it was getting in. Originally I was supposed to leave on the night of the 22nd but the rains were heavy along with the winds. That being the case I stayed an extra night and headed back home the next morning. Along the way I decided to drop in at San Juan Bautista in San Benito County to see the old Mission bearing the same name as the city.

Mission San Juan Bautista was founded back in 1797 in Spanish Alta California. The current structure at the site was built from 1803 to 1812 and has been in continuous service ever since. Mission San Juan Bautista was part of the highway known as the "El Camino Real" which connected the 21 Spanish Missions of Alta California.

Essentially the route of the El Camino Real was plotted out in the late 1700s from two Spanish survey expeditions. The Missions were plotted approximately 30 miles apart along the 600 mile route so that they would be a single day journey by horse. The El Camino Real name fell into disuse after the Mexican Revolution of 1821 but was revived by American highway promoters in the 1890s and 1900s. Today the El Camino Real is mostly associated with US 101 which follows the general path but deviates substantially from the actual trails that the Spanish used. Mission San Juan Bautista actually has an original dirt segment of the original El Camino Real located on the north side of the facility in the San Andreas Fault.

The City of San Juan Bautista was founded in 1834 as was centered around the Mission in Plaza Square. Plaza Square contains many historic structures aside from Mission San Juan Bautista and is now a California State Historical Park.

As for US 101 it did run directly through San Juan Bautista until 1932 via the San Juan Grade. The route of US 101 through the City southbound was; 1st Street, Monterey Street, 3rd Street, and The Alameda.

Comments

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926. Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California. The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant. However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes. The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield. In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range. ...

Hawaii Route 50

Hawaii Route 50 is the longest Sign Route on the island of Kauai at 32.6 miles. The entirety of Hawaii Route 50 is overlaid atop Kaumualii Highway from Lihue west to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Hawaii Route 50 is one of the original 1955-era State Highway designations on Kauai. Much of the Kaumualii Highway corridor was constructed during the sugar plantation boom of the late Hawaiian Kingdom. The first tee beam bridge in Hawaii would be constructed along the Kaumualii Highway in 1911 at the Hanapepe. Much of this highway would be modernized to two-lane standards through the 1930s and 1940s. This page is part of the Gribblenation Hawaii Roads series. A compellation of all Hawaii-related media from both Gribblenation and RoadwayWiz can be found by clicking here . Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 50 and Kaumualii Highway Hawaii Route 50 is the longest highway on Kauai at 32.6 miles. The highway begins at Rice Str...

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida. One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region. For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate. Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century. Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area. The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...