Montery State History Park/San Juan Bautista State History Park Review

It is such a beautiful and peaceful place. My kids enjoyed learning new things. Will definitely make another trip soon.

Awesome! We stumbled upon this by accident when heading home from a trip to the pinnacles... and it was such a great surprise. Feels like walking through a true piece of the past. We will definitely be back to check out more!

San Juan Bautista Plaza is a National Historic Landmark and a California State Historic Park.

San Juan Bautista, founded in 1797, is the most striking architectural example in the United States of a 19th century village built on the traditional Spanish-Mexican Colonial plaza plan.

Grouped around the original plaza, which was first used as a parade ground by the Spanish soldiers guarding the mission, are five historic structures: Plaza Hall, Plaza Stable, Castro House, Plaza Hotel and San Juan Mission Church and Convent.

When we visited the plaza in 2011, a crew was setting up a mobile theater to screen Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo.

As you recall, near the end of the movie, Scottie and Judy (Madeleine) visited a mission at some distance from San Francisco. Dreadful things happened in the bell tower. The mission they visited was Mission San Juan Bautista, but there is no bell tower here.

There once was a bell tower, but it was demolished after a fire. Hitchcock added a post-production bell tower at the Paramount studio in Los Angeles using scale models and matte paintings. The interior staircase shots were filmed on a studio set.

Interesting place with lots of historical artifacts. Definitely worth a visit if you are looking for a quaint backdrop with a quiet atmosphere.

Good place to take a kid and talk about the history of the missions. No matter how you feel about them it will help foster an interest in history. It is not the facts, it is the stories that will do that.

Very nice park located next to San Juan Bautista Mission. Large grass area. Benches. Historic buildings. Add the mission and you have a great experience and views.