5/15 A short foray out from our campground north about 18 miles to Santa Cruz. This was the twelfth of twenty-one Spanish missions built in Alta (upper) California. The mission was completed with a church, quadrangle, two story granary and workshops in 1795. This mission seemed to be doomed from the start. Between earthquakes, fires and pirates this was never a very successful mission. Yes, you did read correctly, I did say pirates. At one point pirate Hippolyte Bouchard, known for plundering the coast of California, was reported off the coast of Monterey Bay and the Governor of the time ordered the missionaries to evacuate the mission. The Indian population left the area shortly after the completion of the mission because of the start of the pueblo (town) across the river. Because the population was down and the mission was out of the way, it really was not very productive. The mission was secularized in 1834. There were several wooden churches built over the years which of course burned down. The current church is brick and adobe. In the 1930’s they built a smaller scaled replica of the original mission which stands today. This is used for weddings and weekday masses.
Across the street from the mission is the Church and school, which is quite large.
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