On July 1, 1769, a pitiful group of Missionaries and Spanish soldiers gathered on the shore of San Diego Bay. Amongst the 219 Spaniards who had left Lower California two months before only half were still alive. Most of the …
The Carmel Mission… When the Spaniards agreed to establish the second mission of the chain on Vizcaino’s Monterey Bay, Governor Gaspar de Portolá went by land, but Father Serra went by sea. After both parties met at the evergreen-scented harbor, …
Due to the location of the rugged Santa Lucia Mountains, which tumble down to the sea in central California, the overland route between San Diego and the second mission at Carmel turned inland during the latter half of the journey. …
The fourth of the California missions, the San Gabriel Arcángel Mission, had three sites. The first place proposed was well inland from the ocean near the river that is now called Santa Ana. After arriving there, the Founding Fathers decided …
San Luis Obispo was founded on September 1, 1772. As Governor Portolá and his men trudged northward in 1769 in their search for Monterey Bay, they were surprised by the number of bears seen at the mouth of a small …
The Mission now called Dolores was founded on October 8, 1776. For the dedication of Mission San Francisco de Asís, the Padres chose a site beside a little inlet called Laguna Dolores. The nearby Pueblo was named Yerba Buena. As …
The swallows of Capistrano, famous in song and story, really do build their mud nests in the ruins of the old mission church, returning each year on or about March 19, on St. Joseph’s Day. A church of magnificent proportions …