August 30, 2017

The Spanish established a chain of 21 missions in California in the late 18th and early 19th century, stretching from San Diego to Sonoma. The mission properties were rather wealthy and included industrial operations, by some accounts owning 1/6 of Alta California. They were secularized after Mexican independence and fell into various states of disrepair. Many have been restored to their original(but smaller) state. They are now owned by the Catholic Church and are both museums and active churches.

Mission San Fernando Rey de España

Mission San Fernando is in the northern part of the San Fernando Valley and was the 17th mission founded in 1797. After the missions were secularized in 1833, this mission became the property of Andres Pico, the brother of the Governor Pio Pico. The only building that survives today pretty much intact is the Convento which sites along side San Fernando Mission Blvd. The chapel had been restored and was in use until the 1971 San Fernando earthquake which pretty much destroyed the building. It has since been rebuilt. The most recent addition to the mission is in the cemetery that lies north of the mission is the Garden of Hope where Bob Hope and his wife are buried.

I had to make two trips to the mission because the first time I missed the Garden of Hope because there was a wedding in the chapel and you have to go though the chapel to get to the cemetery and I also wanted to take some infrared pictures as well.