Mission La Purisima Concepcion

I learned a lot at this mission. It is owned by the State of California & a docent named MR. Cook gave us a 2 hour tour. The most interesting thing that I learned is that after forth grade, girls had to go live in a different part of the mission, away from everybody else. All these girls would live together until they got married (when they were around 13). Mr. Cook said they got married young because their lives were shorter. They slept, ate, and made things like candles and pottery in one room. They also had an outside space where there was a picnic table, an horno (outdoor oven), and a toilet. There were gates around the outside area to keep the girls separated from the other population. The toilet was over a ditch of running water from the stream, which would carry everything down stream and would keep the area from smelling. 

I also learnred that the Indian population had their own village on the grounds of the mission and they lived in tule huts, not in the mission buildings like I imagined. Those buildings are only for the workers, the Padres, and the guests that visit the mission. The mission is right on El Canino Real so it was kind of like a hotel. 

This mission was originally built in another spot but two weeks after being founded in 1812, a huge earthquake destroyed it. The mission was right on top of a major fault line. The padre decided to move the mission to where it is now. It's also on the same side of the El Camino Real road so flooding didn't prevent visitors from getting there. 

This mission is the only one that's in a straight line. It's like that because the local Indians were friendly and weren't a threat to the mission. There were only 5 soldiers that lived at the mission at a time.  They were separated from the Indians because they didn't like the Indians. 

School room

The canopy kept bugs from falling on the guests when they slept. 

Tule hut. 

The Indians enjoyed bathing. They took baths and washed their clothes in here. The Europeans did not take baths often. 

This is the room where the girls lived after they finished 4th grade until they got married. 

This is the infirmary. They kept the sick people away from the rest. The Indians often died from diseases that visitors brought.