Barbara Hart Radisavljevic
California was originally colonized by Spain. First came explorers, then came the soldiers, and not far behind the soldiers came the missionaries. The first group of of soldiers accompanied by Franciscan missionaries came to Alta California (the part above Mexico) in 1769. The priests were led by Father Junipero Serra, now known as the father of California missions. I live very close to two of those missions, Mission San Luis Obispo and Mission San Miguel Arcangel. In this gallery I will focus on Mission San Miguel.
Unlike some of the California missions I have visited, Mission San Miguel Archangel is a very peaceful place. Although it’s very close to Highway 101, visitors hardly notice the freeway. I did not notice any commercial areas next to the mission.
In this gallery I will show you some of my favorite photos of Mission San Miguel. I took all of them and they may not be used without my written permission by anyone else.
Sign that You’ve Arrived at Mission San Miguel Arcangel
The Mission Main Entrance
The Mission Courtyard and Church
This is the mission courtyard. As you can see, most of the plants are cacti. You can also see how rural the area around the mission is. The mission church, which still holds services, is in the background. It was closed for a long time after what locals call the San Simeon earthquake in 2003. I experienced that earthquake. It killed two people in Paso Robles. It also damaged this mission and many other structures in Paso Robles and Atascadero.
Another View of the Courtyard and Church
The Olive Press, View 1
Olive Press, View 2
The Fountain
Mission Church Interior
Mission Outdoor Chapel
In the San Miguel Graveyard
This cemetery was one of the plainest I've ever been in. Very few of the graves are marked. Both Indians and missionaries are buried here, along with a few others.
Although I have many more photos, I won't put them all in this post. I don't like to make multi-page posts. I will focus on other parts of the mission in future posts.
How many mission were or still are between you and me? Remember I am right next to San Luis Rey de Francia. I am so glad you chose to post these. I haven’t been to this one.
There are six between yours and San Miguel. I don’t think I’ve been to yours, though I’ve been to Capistrano and San Diego. We visited a very small historic church I thought was a mission when we were in the area of Julian or San Diego after we had camped somewhere in that area. (It’s hard remembering back to 1989.) I can’t seem to find it on the mission list. We didn’t get much further in than the cemetery. I don’t think it was open when we were there. Now it’s driving me nuts trying to remember what it was. I’ll have to go back through the old photo albums of that trip.
Six, well that makes sense. So it would take about a week to walk up there.
Okay, now you have me wondering. I can’t remember the small church either. I did spend some time in that graveyard on the hill.. I do need to go back up there soon when it warms up a bit more. If you do find the pictures, post them!
That was so far back I’ll have to scan them. I think I have all the photos here now, and I finally brought the scanner over. Now I” find out if my set-up works, but it may take some time, since other things are currently more important.
Well, I hope it does. Good luck, when you do get time. : )
Each were a days walk right?