Barrio Viejo Tucson & Historic Scott Avenue Tour

Oct 27th – Nov 17th

• Hours10am - 12pm
• Admission$35 per person
• Time12:00 AM

The tour begins with a stroll past our stunning historic St. Augustine Cathedral dating to 1897, as we learn what the cathedral looked like when first built! Then we head down historic Scott Avenue to see prominent structures designed by the famous architect of the Southwest, Henry Trost, including the Scottish Rite Cathedral and our Carnegie Free Library. Plus we learn of a beautiful hotel that once stood nearby and the story of a charming mansion that dates to 1878, today a bed and breakfast! Next we stroll past the charming Temple of Music & Art with it's quaint courtyard plaza and learn that this theater happens to have a twin!

From there we stroll through the historic Barrio Viejo, the largest concentration of mud adobe structures found in a single neighborhood anywhere in the United States! We discuss how these structures were built for our harsh desert climate and learn of the three styles of Sonoran Row Houses, and what brings about each style change! We will walk past these bright colored structures, some beautifully restored, others in a vintage state, and still others in a state of ruin where we can see the exposed mud adobe blocks and construction techniques!

We stroll through several charming corner parks in this neighborhood, and hear the tales of the residents of the Barrio Viejo over the years! We see where corner stores once stood and tales of Chinese Grocers, as we stroll past new shops and galleries opening in the neighborhood. Next, we visit the location of the El Ojito Natural Spring where Spanish Soldiers and their wives would fetch water during the the Spanish Colonial years, and where Tucson's first park would stand years later. Here we will discuss our 4000 years of Native American History, and our days as a part of New Spain! We visit the El Tiradito Wishing Shrine which dates to the 1870s, and learn the sinful tale of Juan Oliveras and how it is this shrine comes to be...Plus, we discuss how this shrine would help save the neighborhood a century later in 1970...oh my - this is a good tale! We finish by strolling past the Teatro Carmen dating to 1915 as a Spanish language theater and learn of a Jewish run corner store where the lady of the home helped found the first Jewish Synagogue in the Arizona Territory! All of this AND so much more when you book our Barrio Viejo Tucson & Historic Scott Avenue Tour!