Mission La Purísima Concepción de María Santísima
Mission La Purísima Concepción de María Santísima was founded on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8, 1787 by Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén de Arasqueta. The original Mission was severely damaged in the Santa Barbara earthquake of December 21, 1812, and the Mission was relocated from the original site to a site north of Lompoc, between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Mission Santa Barbara was completely destroyed in the same earthquake, and Mission Santa Inéz received lesser damage. The Chumash Native Americans at the Mission revolted in 1824, and the revolt was suppressed by soldiers from Monterey. After Mexican secularization in 1834, the Mission became a ranch and was later abandoned and left to the elements. One hundred years passed, and under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, Companies 1951 and 2950 of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) came to rebuild the Mission on the original foundations.
Today, the Mission is part of La Purisima Mission State Historic Park. The official web site is here. There is much to see at the Mission. When we visited, I photographed the buildings, hallways, the cemetery, and an olive garden with a fountain. There were poppies in bloom. At the Mission, you can almost feel what it must have been like to live there, since the restoration has been very thorough, right down to the farm animals that were present.
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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