Calabazas: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Tumacacori National Historical Park, National Park Service
Singer C, Gredig T, University of Arizona. 2011. Calabazas: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Tumacacori National Historical Park, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 850103. NPS Intermountain Regional Office. Intermountain Regional Office/CLI Database
San Cayetano de Calabazas (Calabazas) is a 22-acre landscape located in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. Located in a semi-desert grassland region east of the Santa Cruz River and south of Rio Rico, the district represents a vernacular Spanish colonial mission landscape, a Mexican livestock ranch, and the headquarters of two United States military posts. The most prominent characteristic of the landscape is its physical position on a bluff, offering views of the surrounding lower floodplains of the Santa Cruz River and its tributaries. This placement was important for overseeing the mission agricultural lands and, later, to protect the area against Apache attacks. Occupation of the area can be traced back to an undetermined prehistoric time, with permanent settlement of the particular site likely beginning with the mission’s establishment in 1756. At that time, Spanish missionaries created Calabazas as a visita (satellite mission without a resident Father) to serve the large native population of the area. The mission was established during a time of uncertainty when attacks from Apaches and other native peoples were increasing, and Spanish colonizers were concerned about their livelihoods and the future of the Spanish frontier. Calabazas was the last mission to be developed in a string of Spanish Colonial missions in the Santa Cruz Valley. The landscape at Calabazas evolved to include a mission church, priest’s house, compound walls, native village, and outlying agricultural fields. Typical of Jesuit missions of the area, it employed a vernacular architectural style and layout that incorporated both the native building style and the introduced Spanish Mission style, built in response to the surrounding environment. This landscape and its inhabitants evolved beyond the new form of architecture, with developments such as the successful introduction of new crops and the expansion of agriculture; the successful introduction of cattle and other livestock; the teaching of skills important to become Spanish citizens, like those of masons, shepherds, vaqueros (cowboy), and irrigators; and the conversion to Catholicism. After the mission was secularized in 1834, it was adaptively reused as a cattle ranch by Mexican Governor Manuel Gándara. Decades later, two different U.S. military regiments used the site as a camp headquarters (Camp Moore and Fort Mason) and U.S. Customs House before it entered a stage of contentious land grabs that defined the region in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These uses preserved the main adobe structures through continuous use, thus allowing the integrity and significance of the site to be recognized today. In 1974, the site was transferred to the Arizona Historical Society, and it became part of Tumacácori National Historical Park in 1990. Today, the historic structures at Calabazas sit on an alluvial terrace. The mission is the only example of a Jesuit visita in the National Park system, and it possesses exceptional value for illustrating the long and difficult acculturation process that resulted in the region’s unique cultural blend, incorporating traditional Native American, Spanish, and Anglo cultures. The property is significant for the period 1756 to 1866, beginning with the founding of Calabazas as a Jesuit visiting mission and ending with its abandonment as the headquarters for Fort Mason. Its significance is associated with areas of archeology, religion, agriculture, Spanish exploration and settlement, and military. Overall, the landscape retains integrity; however, due to neglect and erosion, the site lacks most features associated with the historic uses aside from the remains of adobe buildings. Urban encroachment has impacted the setting and feeling of the site by affecting views. One of the most notable aspects of urban encroachment is a nearby waste water treatment facility. The unit is open to the public by guided tour only.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Singer, Carla; Gredig, Theresa; University of Arizona
- Date of Issue
- 2011-08-31
- Publisher
- NPS Intermountain Regional Office
- Units
- IMR , TUMA
- Keywords
- Agriculture, alluvial terrace, Apache, Archeology, Arizona, Arizona Historical Society, Bluff, Camp Moore, Colonial Exploration and Settlement, Community Planning and Development, Designed Landscape, Establishing Intercultural Relations, Ethnic Heritage, Ethnographic/Traditional Landscape, Ethnohistory of Indigenous American Populations, Exploration-Settlement, Farming Communities, Floodplains, Fort Mason, headquarters, historic site, Interpretive Landscape, Jesuit, Livestock, Manuel Gandara, Mexican, Military, Military-Indigenous Peoples Contact, Mission, Mission church, Native American, Native Cultural Adaptations at Contact, Potrero Creek, Priest's House, ranch, Ranching Communities, Religion, Religious Structure, Rio Rico, San Cayetano de Calabazas, Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz River, Sonoita Creek, Spanish, Spanish Colonial Mission, Subsistence Agriculture, The Cattle Frontier, The Southwest, U.S. Customs House, United States Military Post, Vernacular architecture, Vernacular Landscape, Village, Visita, Waste Water Treatment Facility