(2002) Site of the hospital
 
Waysign:
 
"POST HOSPITAL: The hospital occupied the eastern end of this two-story shingle-roofed adobe building, which was 133 feet long and 33 feet wide. The hospital contained several wards, a dispensary, and an office and sleeping room for the hospital steward."
 
Period photo of original hospital building

(2002) Married Officers' Quarters viewed from the enlisted mens' barracks. This building is a reconstruction on the original foundation. The reconstructed building was completed in 1956 by State Parks. The original building was designed as a "duplex" to house two married company grade officers and their families side by side. Each family was to have one downstairs room and one upstairs room while sharing the common hallways and kitchen. The 19th century Army was always short on officers and most of the time the original building only housed one family. The reconstruction depicts this use.

The current display in the Officers Quarters depicts the year 1856 when Captain John William Tudor Gardiner, First United States Dragoons, and his wife Annie Hayes West Gardiner and their infant son Robert Hallowell Gardiner III lived in the structure. The Gardiners had at least one servant, Mary, who is believed to have been the wife of 1st Sergeant James Fitzgerald. Mary helped in the preparation the family's meals and most likely helped with the domestic chores. The Gardiners may have had another servant that helped with child care or maybe that was Mary's job too, we do not know.

(2002) Parlor of the Officers' Quarters
 
Waysign:
 
"'Only think! Four whole rooms," wrote Capt. John W. Gardiner happily to his parents, describing his new quarters at Fort Tejon. He and his wife, Annie, whom he married just the year before, came to the fort in June 1855 and lived here for 18 months.

Less than a month after their arrival, the Gardiners gave a party to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. Collecting all the party foods available and using borrowed wine glasses, Mrs. Gardiner served pickled oysters, soda biscuits, fruitcake, and sherry."