Adventure 49/101, Mission 10 - Mission San Luis Rey

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 101 - 10 : Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, 18^th mission

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  August 13, 2012

Location: Oceanside

Description:

When we got to this mission, the interior was closed already and the parking lot and grounds would be closing in awhile. Still as we looked around, you got the image of what a fully restored mission should look like. Then you start wondering how the people in the late 1700's and early 1800's could construct such a magnificent building as this? Unfortunately, we could not stay and ponder more as one of the nun's was wondering what we were doing there. So we left.

From Wikipedia's site:

The original name, La Misión de San Luis, Rey de Francia (The Mission of Saint Louis, King of France) was named for King Louis IX of France.[1][2] It's 'nickname' was "King of the Missions

In July 1847, U.S. military governor of California Richard Barnes Mason created an Indian sub-agency at Mission San Luis Rey, and his men took charge of the mission property in August, appointing Jesse Hunter from the recently arrived Mormon Battalion as sub-agent. Battalion guide Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the Native American Shoshone child of Sacagawea who had traveled with the Lewis and Clark Expedition forty years earlier, was appointed by Mason as the Alcalde "within the District of San Diego, at or near San Luis Rey" in November 1847. Charbonneau resigned from the post in August, 1848, claiming that "because of his Indian heritage others thought him biased when problems arose between the Indians and the other inhabitants of the district."

California Mission Resource Center:
Prominent Missionary Leaders: Father Peyrí, who led the mission for thirty-six years. Father Peyrí was not only an energetic leader with a genial disposition, he was a talented architect and builder. When the beloved padre was forced to leave after the Mexican takeover of California, hundreds of neophytes followed him to San Diego, begging him to return

Special Attraction: The sunken garden and lavanderia (laundry), located in a hollow to the south of the mission may be reached by descending 46 fire tiled steps. Two springs provided water that sprouted from the mouths of sculpted gargoyles into the lavanderia.

Interesting Facts: The mission was the site for several episodes of the Walt Disney T.V. series Zorro in the 1950s.

From California State Parks site:

Known as the King of the Missions, San Luis Rey de Francia lies in a sheltered valley just east of Oceanside on State Highway 76. Named for Louis IX, the crusading King of France, the cross-shaped church was dedicated on the Feast of St. Anthony in 1798 by Father Lasuen. Architecturally the most graceful of California's missions, it has been restored according to the original plans and designs. Today the mission gardens include a fruit orchard where California's first pepper tree still grows. The church, which seats 1,000, is adjacent to a six-acre enclosed central square that includes a sunken garden, elaborate stone terrace and octagonal mortuary chapel.

4050 Mission Ave., San Luis Rey, 92068, (760) 757-3651