On July 11, 2020 fire severely damaged the church. The roof was totally destroyed and much of the interior, too.
If you were a European or American traveler on horseback in California in the early 1800s, you would have heard the bells ringing at the Mission San Gabriel miles and miles before you saw the Mission.
As you approached you would come across vast vineyards and orchards with native Tongva people working in them. Without the Tongva people, the Mission could not have thrived. (My next post will be about them.)
This Mission was founded in 1771, but the current building was dedicated in 1805. When the assets of the Mission were confiscated in 1834 the Franciscans owned four vineyards with over 123,000 vines, 9 orchards with over 2,300 trees, almost 13,000 head of cattle, plus looms, canons, wine presses, 227 books in their library and 1,323 Indians living on the Mission lands. And, rather interestingly, they were in debt, owing 2/3rd of the total value of their assets.
My intent when going to the San Gabriel Mission was to photograph the gardens. Those pictures on my HotGardens.net website. It turned out that the Mission Church and grounds were a lot more interesting than the gardens. They gave a view into how people lived in that era. The captions give additional information about each photo.
