The Santa Barbara Parks & Recreation Department and the Santa Barbara Rose Garden Society are looking for volunteers to help with the annual pruning of the A.C. Postal Memorial Rose Garden in front of the Santa Barbara Mission. Pruning of the more than 1,500 roses begins Saturday at 8 a.m. Show up with work clothes (long pants and sleeves), pruners, a leaf rake, and a looper. Or, for more information, call the city Parks Department at 564-5433. In case of rain the event will be rescheduled for the following Saturday, January 19th, 2013.
During the construction of the Mission,the “Rose Garden” was the pit where the bricks were formed…lye was used in this pit & any/all Chumash people who were murdered or died of illness were mixed in with the mortar to dissolve.
This is where the Mission gets the number 3000 natives buried in cemetery.
So as the roses get pruned,remember where you walk.
Love the chumash guy who comments here!
The actual number of murdered indigenous people was more like 4,000 according to markers removed around 1975. I wonder if there is a photo of the original marker?
The only source for this “lye pit” story I’ve seen is from befuddled hippies who believe the Santa Barbara Mission is haunted. Any credible sources for this story?
Axman….the answer is YES,there are credible sources for all of the historical info I present…
BUT..I see you in particular,as someone who argues every point to exhaustion without resolve..so NOTHING is going to convince you until you open your 3rd eye.
As a Chumash history keeper,spiritual leader & ceremony leader, I MUST be honest & factual in my tellings of our history.
If you got to know me, you would also realize the truth of my every word..
Until that time, be appreciative that there is someone with the old knowledge who`s willing to share with non-Native peoples.
The truth does`nt ALWAYS hurt…sometimes it opens the door & allows us to fly…
In other words … you don’t have any credible sources for your claim.
Axman….you`ve just proven my point…check & mate.
I’ll chime in here and state I’ve never heard an archaeological study showing this “burial ground” either. Bones don’t “dissolve” in lye and, the fact is, if you find a single human remain during construction in this town, then entire project it on hold until a full scientific team is deployed. Somehow, this garden was planted, is regularly maintained and no evidence of this burial ground has ever surfaced?
I also dispute the usage of the word “murdered”…it is well established that many Chumash died from non-native diseases, but no history I was ever taught locally had wholesale murder of the very people the Church was trying to “save”.
I love living here and learning about this history of this area, but hyperbole and arguments from pure emotion such as these above serve only to muddy the historic record and lessen the rightful sympathy for a formerly oppressed people.
El Smurfo…..incorrect again.
Care to cite some references for your opinions?
Lye isn’t used in making adobe bricks, or in the adobe mortar to hold the bricks together.
Lye was used by the Mission when tanning hides in the tanning vats, but it’s hard to imagine the padres would cram thousands of dead Chumash, one at a time, into the tanning vats, for no apparent reason.
Perhaps he meant Lime, which could have been a component of the cement used to hold the bricks together. Regardless, just shows how superstition reported as historic fact diminishes both.
You 2 are perfect for each-other,or are the same person…
I would guess that you represent some SB faction ie: Mission,Presidio,Museum?
You want proof beyong the truth of my words?…ok,
but 1st put something of value[ $10,000 min] on the table & I will show you the proof you seek.
Test