California Missions: Journey into History
By: Joe Volz Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2006-12-21 13:04:24.952107-05:00
Architecture and archeology combined with American Indians, Spanish friars cloaked in long, hooded gray habits, and rugged soldiers all make up the history of California’s 21 missions.
These historic buildings are a romantic but realistic slice of the states’ colorful and often overlooked past. Presidios (forts) defended them and pueblos (towns) sprang up around them. The missions, each a day’s journey by horse, followed El Camino Real (the Royal Road) stretching along the coastal region from San Diego to north of San Francisco. Much of that road is now US 101. That’s how Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego sprouted.
Dating from 1769 to 1823, the missions were religious outposts established primarily by Spanish Catholic Franciscan missionaries. Their purpose was to convert the local American Indians to Christianity and to establish a toehold in a remote province of the Spanish empire.
What You See
Missions required a good water supply, wood for fires, building materials, fields for grazing herds and raising crops, and a large Indian population to work the land. Named after Catholic saints and originally constructed of adobe bricks with red tile roofs, the missions today are in different states of restoration. Most boast rich collections of paintings, statuary, vestments, manuscripts and artifacts. Gift shops sell souvenirs and religious items and museums explain local history. Cypress trees shade gardens colorful with fig and citrus trees, grapevines, herbs, and bougainvillea.
California is a tourist mecca, and the state is rich in natural history museums, planetariums, world-class restaurants and casual cafes, wineries, beaches, hiking and biking paths and state parks. Take the 240-mile stretch of El Camino Royal between Santa Barbara and Carmel on the Monterey Peninsula. Here are a few suggestions:
Santa Barbara
Mission Santa Barbara is a regal building with tall pink columns, a moss-covered Moorish fountain, and twin bell towers that make it one of the most beautiful (and most photographed) of the missions. The interior is luminescent, covered in gold faux marble. It still functions as a Catholic church and you might remind grandchildren to be respectful and quiet if a service is taking place during your visit. Founded in 1786 by Father Fermin Lasuen, the mission was rebuilt after earthquakes in 1820 and 1925.
Less than a two-hour drive from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara is a seaside town with fine restaurants and beaches. It’s also a good walking town, with sidewalks covered with Spanish-style red tiles. Among other attractions, there’s the Gladwin Planetarium, Museum of Natural History, and Stearns Wharf, which features restaurants, shops, and the Ty Warner Sea Center.
Mission Santa Inés
North on El Camino Real is “The Hidden Gem.” The Mission Santa Inés (sometimes spelled Santa Ynez), is one of the best preserved of the missions. It was founded in 1804 in Solvang, commanding a superb view of the Santa Ynez River Valley and nearby mountain ranges. At its heyday, it had 12,000 head of cattle grazing in those hills. The gift shop offers a taped audio tour.
Historians debate the treatment of the converted American Indians, or neophytes as they were once called, and the mission museums offer ample information to fuel a discussion.
In 1824, a series of revolts occured at several missions. Well-armed neophytes attacked soldiers at Mission Santa Inés without warning, and then set fire to the buildings. Inexperienced in handling guns, the Indians quickly retreated. By 1836, the Mexican government confiscated the missions, and ended religious oversight. After the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-48), the United States took half the territory of Mexico, including California.
Mission San Luis Obispo
Continuing north, Mission San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway between LA and San Francisco. It is one of California’s oldest communities, dating to the mission’s founding in 1772. The mission church is a unique design, combining belfry and vestibule. The main nave is long and narrow, as are other mission churches, but here there is a secondary nave of almost equal size situated to the right of the altar, making this the only “L”-shaped mission church in California.
Mission San Carlos Borroméo
The second mission founded by Franciscan Junipero Serra (the first was San Diego de Alcalá in 1769) in 1770, is in Carmel. With its Moorish bell tower, its walls of adobe brick or stone with limestone-and-seashell mortar and its ocean view, this is one of the prettiest and largest of the state’s missions. The interior has been superbly restored. Serra and his successor, Fermín Lasuén are both buried here. This hamlet on the Monterey Peninsula, 130 miles south of San Francisco, has breathtaking natural scenery, a 17-mile drive encircling Pebble Beach golf course, and the Del Monte Forest. It also has one of the world’s largest aquariums.
Additional Information
The California Missions
The California Missions Studies Association
National Register of Historic Places
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