Adventure 49/101, Mission 18 - Mission San Francisco de Asis

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 101 - 18 : Mission San Francisco de Asis, Mission Dolores, 6th mission

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  August 30, 2012

Location: San Francisco

 Description:

After we got off of BART—we do not have that in Fresno, we walked a few blocks over to Mission San Francisco de Asis, or as most of us folks call it, Mission Dolores. The Dolores part is after the creek which used to run by the mission and the lake which may have been nearby. The creek was called that after Mary who wept.

But we got to the Mission around 11:30 on a day a bit cool, but sunny. After paying the entrance fee, we went inside the mission building. The roof has been repainted to simulate the colors and design of what may have been part of the original. The front is rich in religious figures, commemorating people significant to the missions past.

We then went across to the basilica, pausing to reflect. Then it is out to see pictures of the old mission and the 1989 visit by Pope John Paul II. We spent some time in the museum, particularly concerning the diary of Father Font, who was the diarist for Don Josef Joachin Moraga's expedition to find the area—he is buried under the church floor. Then out to the cemetery, seeing the various gravestones of early settlers and Native American converts.

From Wikipedia site:

Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. The Mission was founded on June 29, 1776, by Lieutenant José Joaquin Moraga and Father Francisco Palóu (a companion of Father Junipero Serra), both members of the de Anza Expedition, which had been charged with bringing Spanish settlers to Alta (upper) California, and evangelizing the local Natives, the Ohlone. Friar Font, wrote about the spot chosen for the Mission:

We rode about one league to the east [from the Presidio], one to the east-southeast, and one to the southeast, going over hills covered with bushes, and over valleys of good land. We thus came upon two lagoons and several springs of good water, meanwhile encountering much grass, fennel and other good herbs. When we arrived at a lovely creek, which because it was the Friday of Sorrows [that Friday before Palm Sunday], the 3rd of April 1776, we called the [creek] Arroyo de los Dolores ... On the banks of the Arroyo ... we discovered many fragrant chamomiles and other herbs, and many wild violets. Near the streamlet the lieutenant planted a little corn and some garbanzos in order to try out the soil, which to us appeared good.

The Mission chapel, along with "Father Serra's Church" at Mission San Juan Capistrano, is one of only two surviving buildings where Father Junípero Serra is known to have officiated (although "Dolores" was still under construction at the time of Serra's visit)
The mission is the subject of the Jerry Garcia song "Mission in the Rain."

From California Missions Resource Center site:

Interesting Facts: 

The mission church is the oldest intact building in San Francisco.
Mission Dolores survived the great fire and earthquake of 1906.
In the movie Vertigo Jimmy Stewart, as detective, Scottie Ferguson, followed Kim Novak (the central character, Madeleine Elster) through Mission Dolores and into the cemetery.
Some 36,000 adobe bricks were employed in the construction of the Dolores church.












From California State Parks site:

On a site selected by Juan Bautista de Anza, the first mission church was a 50-foot long log and mud structure that was eventually moved to higher ground, adjacent to Lake Dolores which gives it its second name, Mission Dolores. Dedicated to Saint Francis by Father Serra in 1776, today the mission sits in the heart of San Francisco and is the oldest building in the city. Much of the original church interior is intact and the guilded reredos and colorful wall paintings are good examples of early California art.
 3321 16th St., San Francisco, 94114, (415) 621-8203