by Mike Imwalle
Students whitewash the living quarters and cocina of the alférez, or second lieutenant. Photo by Mike Imwalle.
On Wednesday, February 8, thirteen energetic volunteers from Cate School assisted SBTHP Maintenance Supervisor Eduardo Garcia with putting the final coats of whitewash on the Presidio‘s Northeast Corner complex. Ed has been working with Santa Barbara County Probation Department workers and volunteers for months patching and repairing the hundreds of feet of adobe walls that comprise the Northeast Corner. After patching the adobe walls, the last step is to coat it with a thin layer of lime whitewash.
Outer defense wall with a bright new coat of protective whitewash. Photo by Mike Imwalle.
Will Holmes, David Wood, Patrick Thomas, Nathan Alldredge, Nik Pajouh, Anna Saterfield, Jenny Lundt, Blake Wands, Ema Boateng, Johnowen Lowe, Emma Newton, Luisa Ilvento, and Reid Jeffries made the fourteen-mile trip from the Carpinteria, California campus. The crew finished whitewashing the outer defense wall, cocina and dispensa, and living quarters of the alférez, or second lieutenant.
Eduardo Garcia with the Cate School crew. Photo by David Wood.
We appreciate the support of the school on our adobe maintenance project.  We can also attest that Cate School is no stranger to historic preservation. Last year, SBTHP granted the school a certificate of appreciation for moving, restoring and repurposing a 1928 barn on their campus designed by famed local architect Reginald Johnson.  For more information on Cate School and their public service day, click here.
Mike Imwalle is the archaeologist at the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.Â