We Saw the Immaculate Conception of Saint Mary

For our anniversary this year we went out for lunch. We (at least so far) have not made a big deal of our anniversary. It goes with our generally laid-back nature. Anyway, we went to lunch in “down town” Pismo Beach to a place called Giuseppe’s. It was a nice enough restaurant. They offered brick oven pizzas and so we each got one. Matt really enjoyed his, but Maya not so much hers. Arugula on pizza turns out not to be her style. Three years! Yea!

On July 20 we headed south and east to visit a mission near the city of Lompoc. The mission La Purísima Concepcion de Maria Santisima was originally founded in what is now a residential neighborhood in Lompoc. It was founded in 1787 as the 11th Alta California mission. Since it was situated in the fertile Santa Ynez River valley it quickly become a prosperous and successful endeavor. Orchards, cropland, and a large heard of cattle all helped provide foodstuffs to the other missions. Everything changed in 1812, apparently remembered as Ano de los Temblores. In December several powerful earthquakes literally split the area in two. The mission was shaken apart. There will be more to say on this later. The effect of all this is that the mission had to be moved and in 1813 was re-established in its present location about 10 miles north of the old site.

Here the padres adopted an open plan that put all the buildings in a line along the valley floor rather than in a closed square. This was to aide evacuation in case of the more temblores. Despite the rebuilding, La Purísima never quite got back on its feet. The Indian converts drifted away (or died), there was a major rebellion of those that remained in 1824 which involved a lot of damage as the mission buildings were sieged by Spanish soldiers and in 1834 the Mexican government seized the property. The buildings fell into disarray quickly as the property changed hands over and over. Even when the land was returned to the Catholic Church after American conquest of the area they turned around and sold it yet again. Union Oil ended up with the property but they turned it over the State of California in 1934. The mission buildings were extensively restored and rebuilt in the 1930s as part of a CCC public works project. The whole endeavor was overseen by archeologists and historians so the effect is supposed to be largely authentic. The mission site is now the centerpiece of a large state historic park. In addition to the mission and the visitors center, there are 1,800 acres and miles and miles of trails intended for hiking and horseback riding.

The visitors center is really nice, but there isn’t much inside. There is a sign up about how the state funding was cut back before they could put together the exhibits. So they have a nice, big, nearly empty building. The restored mission is really neat. So many of the other missions we have seen are now surrounded by towns or city. Here is one that still appears to be in the middle of nowhere. Looking up into the hills from the park there aren’t any modern buildings to be seen, although some of that may have been the low cloud cover. The church is quite large but not particularly remarkable. The population was trailing off so much at the new location that services were more often held in the smaller padres’ chapel. The next building in line is the Shops and Quarters house. This building contains the garrison, the candle-making room, the kitchen, the storerooms, the loom room, all attached to several inter-connected courtyards where grain was ground and olives were pressed. Hardly anything is original, of course, but it really shows how the work of the mission was carried out. We have heard at all these other missions about the work that went on when they were in full production, but now we have seen a mission in its “full production” state.
The best preserved of the buildings, i.e. there is some of it that is original, is called the Residence Building. It is where the padres lived and worked. It contains the chapel, several apartments and offices with surprisingly nice furnishings. There is a very large room called la Sala where the padres would have greeted quests stopping at the mission in the days when it was the only semblance of western civilization around. The big, open rooms that connect in counter-intuitive ways are actually something of an inspiration to us. We keep thinking about the house we would like to build someday.
Outside, next to all the buildings is a garden. It contains the original wash basin the Chumash natives did their washing in and a fountain. The garden was neat because it is in the process of being converted to all authentic plants. The park staff is taking out plants that wouldn’t have been grown in mission days and planting ones that would have been. They have also set up very good signage explaining the use of the plants. Such-and-such weed was made into a mild pain reliever and the bark of so-and-so was processed into an oil. That kind of signage. Plus there were grapes, olives and citrus. All together the state park provides a lot of insight into former times.

We had planned to go on from Lompoc to Santa Barbara, but the day had turned out so cold and grey and wet (and cold!) that we decided not to. Instead we explored the city of Lompoc…