Can you believe Mission San Jose originally was made up of 100 adobe structures? Through neglect, natural disasters, and changes with time...this is what the mission looks like today.
Today, Mission San Jose is made up of a Museum, Gift Shop, Courtyard, Church and small Graveyard. We are actually quite lucky to have the Mission resemble so close to what the structures would look like back in the 1700s. Before the big restoration, in its place was a Gothic Style Church and the west wing (Museum) used to have a Victorian style look in the 1890s.
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY: The San Jose Mission is named after St. Joseph. It's full original name is La Mision Del Gloriosisimo Patriarch San Jose. It is the 14th Mission of the 21 Spanish Missions built in California and it was build in June 11, 1797 by Father Fermin Francisco de Lassen. This mission also turned out to be the wealthiest Mission due to its rich and fertile surrounding lands. The Mission grew wheat, corn, dates, olives, and many other fruits and vegetables, along with acres of land with thousands of cattle, sheep and horses roaming around.
The Mission was prosperous up until 1832 when spanish rule left, and the Mexican Government started secularization, where land was divided and given to private landowners. Mission life ceased to exist, and when the father that oversaw the Mission was relocated to another Mission, the Ohlone Natives found themselves without a home. Since they were unable to go back to their previous lifestyle, many fell into deep hardships. Their story is truly a sad one.
Today Mission San Jose is again prosperous, but prosperous in term of visitors. Many of the visitors are students. The nearby school districts have an annual school assignment on Early California History, and San Jose Mission is one of the more popular Missions students choose to have their projects based off on. In fact, I used Mission San Jose for my spanish project back in the 10th grade.
I'm not going to go into too much detail about what's inside the Mission because I do believe it's better to experience it first hand then read about.
But there are a few things I want you to know. You will be entering right into the gift shop where you will need to pay a $5.00 entrance fee. On one end is the small museum that houses Ohlone artifacts and small replicas that showcase the Natives way of life before and during the Missions. You will have to watch your heads because when the restoration team decided to create a replica of the San Jose Mission, they did exactly that. They did an excellent job at recreating exactly what the adobes were like from the thickness of the walls right into the height of the doorways (people used to be much shorter back in the 1700s).
Across from the courtyard, you will find the Church that is still a running church! The original church was destroyed by the Hayward Earthquake in 1868. Recreation started in 1982. The church was recreated by descriptions found in historic documents. Every decorative detail inside the church was as close to what the church was like back in the 1830s as well as the exterior structure of the church. You will be surprised at how much detail there is in the little church. I admit, the church can do with more natural light, but the darkness actually enhances the muted colors, and there is a quiet sense of serenity.
Oh, and do not forget to visit the graveyard on the other side of the church. You can access it through the church. I've been there three times and forgot about it all three times! I was too mesmerized by the church or something, because I never remember about that tiny door to the little graveyard that still houses the graves of the Mission residents.
Happy Wandering, Alice.
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