From the Archives: Photos of Time Past

By: Hannah Barton, Garden Archivist

One of my favorite activities when I have spare time between projects and need a brain break is to browse through our immense digital archive of photography, and I am especially drawn to early photographs of Santa Barbara Botanic Garden grounds and surrounding areas. I particularly enjoy picking out old photos and trying to figure out exactly where they were taken and comparing past and present vantage points. Lately, though, I’ve been expanding my search to include images taken outside of the Garden grounds, including more of our neighboring hills and canyons and the greater Santa Barbara area. Looking at these photos provides a wonderful reminder that while our Garden feels expansive both in acreage and in the breadth of flora we are able to display, we are but a small portion of an extremely biodiverse watershed in Mission Canyon.

Mission Canyon, ca 1903; Mission Canyon extends from the top of the Santa Ynez Mountains to the point where Mission Creek widens near the Santa Barbara Mission, totaling around 2,400 acres (971 hectares). Mission Creek is the principal drainage for the majority of the city of Santa Barbara and has been one of the most abundant resources for local communities for hundreds of years.

Entrance boulders are seen in the distance on Mission Canyon Road, ca 1903

Photo: W.L. Newton

View of Mission Canyon from La Cumbre Peak, ca 1948; Mission Canyon boasts a very diverse flora of over 400 species, much of which is chaparral, oak woodlands, and coastal sage scrub.

Photo: Walter Douglas