On this day in 1776, Mexican-born explorer Juan Bautista de Anza arrived at the future site of San Francisco with 247 colonists. Seven years earlier the Portola expedition, which included Franciscan friars led by Junipero Serra, had reached the Golden Gate and discovered San Francisco for Spain. Anza established a military fort called a presidio on the tip of the San Francisco peninsula, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Loree Marquardt of Colorado Springs, Colorado made this house-shaped wall quilt titled “Right Back Where I Started From” in 2012 for the Quilt Alliance’s “Home Is Where the Quilt Is” contest. Marquardt says in her artist’s statement:
“I am a ninth generation Californian. My tenth great grandfather in 1769 traveled with the Portola Expedition and Father Serra to San Diego. They then went on to discover the Port of Monterey. This quilt is a small tribute to where I started from. California symbolizes so many things to me from the Golden Gate Bridge, to the mission bells, to the surfing shore line, to my heritage. Home is where the quilt is.”
View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt.
Source:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/de-anza-founds-san-francisco
http://www.nps.gov/prsf/historyculture/index.htm
Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org