Mission San Jose

The third mission we explored was Mission San Jose, about mid-way between Mission Espada (the furthest Mission) and San Antonio.  It certainly was another beautiful day for exploring!  There is a road that we drove down to get from mission to mission called, appropriately enough, Mission Road.  This road, though, was used 250 years ago to carry residents, information, supplies, other goods, and warnings of attacks from other Indian tribes (primarily Apache and Comanche).  Today, it primarily carries curious tourists!

Before we walked through the gate, we noticed the bastion on the corner of the mission.  Once we were inside the gate, we found we were able to walk into the bastion, a first among the missions we visited so far.  The inside was very interesting – painted white clay, small windows just large enough for a rifle barrel to fit through, and a wooden ledge upon which the soldiers or citizens defending the mission were stationed.

The bastion also had a window that looked inward, toward the center plaza of the mission.  I don’t often get the opportunity to take both an inside looking out and outside looking window photo, so I took advantage of this one.  One interesting thing to notice is how thick the walls were!!

The entry gate for tourists to enter is open, with the wooden gate doors removed.  However, throughout the mission, other gates still had the wooden doors attached.  Also, one of the gate keys was on display – very large, difficult to mislay!!  Inside the mission walls, Indians lived, worshipped and made up a thriving community, along with the Spaniards.  They learned to blacksmith, weave on European looms, cut stone and make shoes and cotton clothes.  Those who worked outside the mission tended the fields, known as labores, orchards and the livestock.  The population fluctuated, and sometimes reached as high as 300!

The Indians lived in small houses (called jacales) around the mission walls.  In 1755, 84 of these houses lined 3 of the 4 mission walls. The houses may look like little more than shacks to us today, but things were different then.  Every few houses, there was an Earth oven outside.  Most people cooked outside their living quarters in those days so as not to make the houses too hot inside during the warmer months.  Along each of the four mission walls, there was also a well, so people could get water for cooking, drinking and washing.

The center plaza of the Mission was where larger gatherings would have been held, and certainly celebrations of many kinds.  There are also some rocks jutting out from the trees.  Those rocks are the foundation (or what’s left) of workshops where Indians learned skills such as blacksmithing, cutting stone, etc. We made our way around the plaza area to get closer to the mission church.

This section of the building that was connected to the church was called the convent.  Today, we think of a convent as a home for nuns, but back in the late 1700s – 1800s, a convent was where missionaries lived and visitors were housed.

As we approached the convent, it was interesting to see the “layers” of windows, from the front of the convent to the rear.  As we stepped into it, it appears today to be a nice arched walkway.  It was that back in the day, but this walkway also led to rooms off to the right in the lower image.

In these two images, you can better see that this convento was a 2-story building, with rooms on both floors.  Of course, the floorboards are long gone, but it’s interesting to see how sturdy the foundations are!

Here’s a nice image of the side of the mission church.  You can see Jeff (turquoise shirt) walking away from what looks like a small tower or staircase.  We’ll get to that in a minute – but first, notice the carving window toward the lower right in the image (below the dome).  This is known as the Rose Window, which is a wonderful example of Spanish Colonial ornamentation in the US.  Legend has it that the carver of the window, Pedro Huizar carved this as a monument to his lady love, Rosa.  Tragically, on her way from Spain to join him in the US, she was lost at sea.  A more down to earth reason for the window’s name is that it is named after St. Rose of Lima, the first saint of the New World.  I’ll let you decide which story you prefer!

Back to the tower/staircase – I waked up to it, taking in the stone structure and the rather cute little oval window – it almost looked like it was a practice window for the larger fancier Rose Window I mentioned before.  I then looked between the gate that closed the steps off to tourists.  The interesting thing about this stairway is that the construction is all wood.  Jeff and I have seen staircases like this before, but they were always concrete.  The middle image is looking up at the underside of the stairs.  As I said, I couldn’t get in there to look up at the steps, so I just put my camera through the bars, pointed it up, and hoped for the best!!  Oh, and no, I have no idea where the steps led!

Walking around the small step tower, we came to the front of the church.  As we rounded the corner, we first saw the bell tower and church dome.  Then, I noticed the intricate carving on the outside of the church – truly amazing when you think about the timeframe when the Mission was built.  We did step briefly into the church, and the sacristy was very ornate.  And, finally, just outside the front of the church, there were a few headstones.  This one is from a missionary, I assume, named Juan who died in 1893.

Just outside the church, there was a small museum.  The lighting in there was quite dark, and I couldn’t get photos of many things in there.  One thing that I was able to photograph was a map of the world, circa 1565!!  I had to shoot it from the side or I’d get too much glare, as the map is protected under glass.  As you can see, there’s a bit of glare showing, but it was the least amount I could manage.

After the museum, we walked past some additional Indian homes, and came to quite a pretty gate; this one with an iron gate.  The iron gate was even prettier as we walked back in (middle image).  And, where were we headed?  Read on!!

In about 1874, the Mission wanted to begin to grow wheat, in addition to corn.  A mill was built, which was the first in Texas, and the flour produced here allowed for the wheat to be processed.  This wheat flour was also provided to the other missions in the area.  The upper portion of the mill that we are able to see today, (top photo) is one that was rebuilt in the 1930s to be as close to the original as possible.  The lower portion of the mill is original (middle photo).  Water from the acequia (irrigation ditch) flowed from the San Antonio Rive, through a wooden shoot and allowed the wheel in the lower vault to turn and grind the wheat into flour (lower photo).

After returning to the Mission proper from the Grist Mill, we saw a few more exhibits, reflecting what life may have been like in the Mission for both Indian and missionary alike.  I must admit, I really like the look of the fireplace!!

After the exhibits, we visited the Granary, where much of the grain was held and then distributed to those within the Mission and to others from different Missions.  I do admit being a bit curious about the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling – they seem a bit fancy for a storage building!!  I’ve also included a photo of the window in the Granary – it gave such lovely light when we were there.

The last images I want to share are just some images that also speak to the overall feel of being at the Mission, including a rather light-hearted cacti garden!!

Enjoy!!