The ruins here are part of the original Mission La Purisima, founded by Padre Fermin de Lasuen on December 8, 1787, as the 11th Spanish mission in California. In the fertile Santa Ynez River valley, Franciscan missionaries were drawn by the large Chumash population, and the mission became one of the more successful establishments; by 1806 it had irrigated fields and orchards, vast herds of livestock, and a population of over 11,000 Chumash. Mission residents lived in and around an enclosed four-sided adobe quadrangle lined with a covered walkway and containing the church, padres apartments, monjario, workshops, and storerooms, while the Chumash lived nearby in traditional brush homes and soldiers and their families lived to the northwast. The padres' residence faced the plaza, the social center for religious celebrations, fiestas, and other community events, and El Camino Real linked the community with Mission Santa Ines to the east and San Luis Obispo to the north. The church was an imposing structure with a painted interior, religious paintings and statues from Mexico, and daily Catholic services, though many Chumash continued their traditional beliefs and practices. A water system carried water from Miguelito Canyon to a hillside reservoir and then through the community in channels for cooking, washing, shop activities, and irrigation. Beginning on December 21, 1812, a series of earthquakes, heavy rains, mud slides, and flooding devastated the mission, and the community rebuilt five miles north at the present Mission La Purisima.

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Photo: Michael Kindig

Lompoc, California · USA