March 9, 2007
The Santa Barbara Mission, Santa Barbara, CA
The Mission was founded December 4, 1786, which is the feast day of Santa Barbara. Saint Barbara herself was a Turkish martyr from the second century, AD. Construction of this Mission began after the Santa Barbara Earthquake of December 21, 1812. Another earthquake in 1925 caused considerable damage to the Mission's towers, which had to be rebuilt. The interior of the Mission has not changed since 1820.
We didn't go inside, which I actually now regret. The building is beautiful and old, and evokes the California that briefly existed under Mexican rule.
