The Carmel Mission
The Carmel Mission
The Carmel Mission
Watercolor
15 x 22
All of the bold text below I copied from Wikipedia;
Mission Carmel (a.k.a. The Carmel Mission) was the second mission built by Franciscan missionaries in Upper California. It was first established as Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Monterey, Californianear the native village of Tamo on June 3, 1770, by Father Junípero Serra.
Relocation to Carmel Valley
Pedro Fages, who served as military governor of Alta California from 1770 to 1774, kept his headquarters in the polity's capitol, at the Presidio of Monterey. Fages worked his men very harshly and was seen as a tyrant. Serra intervened on behalf of Fages' soldiers, and the two men did not get along.[16][17] Fages regarded the Spanish installations in California as military institutions first, and religious outposts second. The soldiers raped the Indian women and kept them as concubines.[16] Serra wanted to put some distance between the mission's neophytes and Fages' soldiers.
Serra found that the land at the mouth of Carmel Valley, where the Carmel River (named Río del Carmelo by Vizcaíno in 1603[18]) runs into Carmel Bay, was better suited for farming.[19] In May 1771, Spain's viceroy approved Serra's petition to relocate the mission. The mission was established in the new location on August 1, 1771; the first mass was celebrated on August 24, and Serra officially took up residence in the newly constructed buildings on December 24.[20]
The name of the relocated mission was extended to Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Río Carmelo. It was within a short distance of the Rumsen Ohlone villages of Tucutnut and Achasta. The latter village may have been founded after Mission San Carlos was relocated to Carmel Valley. The mission was about 10 mi (16 km) from the nearest Esselen territory, Excelen.[21]The original building in Monterey continued to operate as the Royal Presidio's chapel and later became the current Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo.
Serra's headquarters
"Mission Carmel", as it came to be known, was Serra's favorite.[22] and, because it was close to Monterey, the capital of Alta California, he chose it as his headquarters. When he died on August 28, 1784, he was interred beneath the chapel floor. After Serra's death, Father Fermín Lasuén replaced the adobe structure with one built of stone quarried from the nearby Santa Lucia Mountains.[23]
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