Cabrillo National Monument, California

Cabrillo National Monument commemorates the site of the first landing of a European expedition on West Coast United States. The site is the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego, California. This was where Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo landed on 28 September, 1542.

On 14 October, 1913, the Order of Panama was issued by President Woodrow Wilson, for a monument to be erected on a 0.5-acre site at Fort Rosecrans specially set for the purpose. By 1926, still no monument materialized, so President Calvin Coolidge authorized the Native Sons of the Golden West, a charitable and fraternal organization comprising members who are native-born Californians, to build the monument.

Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, California
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_070929-N-4047W-042_Navy_Band_Southwest_performs_at_the_Cabrillo_National_Monument_before_a_wreath_laying_ceremony_at_the_44th_Annual_Cabrillo_Festival.jpg
Author: Shannon R Warner, US Navy photo


Sculptor Alvaro de Bree got the job to execute the sculpture. It was funded by the Portuguese Government as a gift to the United States, as Carillo was a Portuguese explorer. The monument, of sandstone, stands on a pedestal. It is 14 feet (4.3 m) in height and weights 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg). The national monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 15 October, 1966.

Visiting Cabrillo National Monument, California

Cabrillo National Monument is located at the tip of Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego. You can easily reach it from downtown San Diego.

Cabrillo National Monument is open all year round except Christmas Day, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Entrance fee is $5.00 per passenger vehicle and $3.00 per walk-in visitor, bicyclist and motorcyclist.

Cabrillo National Monument with the San Diego skyline in the background
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cabrillo-Szmurlo.jpg
Author: Chuck Szmurlo

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