San Antonio Mission Trail 4/27/2010

This morning we headed into San Antonio to do the Mission Trail and stop at each of the 4 missions here. Our first stop where there was also a virtual cache was Mission Concepcion. San Antonio Missions National Historical Park preserves four of the five Spanish frontier missions in San Antonio, Texas. These outposts were established by Catholic religious orders to spread Christianity among the local natives. These missions formed part of a colonization system that stretched across the Spanish Southwest in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
In geographic order from north (upstream of the San Antonio River) to south (downstream) the missions are located as follows: Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan, and Mission Espada. The Espada Aqueduct, also part of the Park, is due east of Mission San Juan, across the river. The fifth (and best known) mission in San Antonio, the Alamo, is not part of the park, rather it is owned by the State of Texas, and operated by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas; it is upstream from Mission.

Misión Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña was established in 1716 as Nuestra Señora de la Purísima was established in 1716 as Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Hainais in East Texas. The mission was moved in 1731 to San Antonio. Founded by Franciscan friars, this is the best preserved of the Texas missions. Located at 807 Mission Road, Mission Concepcion was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970. This handsome church looks essentially as it did more than 200 years ago in 1731. In those early years, religious festivals were held as friars strove to replace traditional Native American rituals with Christian ideals. Remnants of original wall and ceiling paintings in the surviving rooms of the mission's convent have been conserved.

Misión San José y San Miguel de Aguayo was established in 1720. Located at 6519 San Jose Drive, it was designated the San Jose Mission National Historic Site in 1941. The historic site was administratively listed on the National Register on October 15, 1966. Mission San Jose was founded by Father Antonio Margil de Jesús. Founded in 1720 by Fray Antonio Margil de Jesús, Mission San José became the largest Texas Mission. After early setbacks, 300 inhabitants were sustained by the vast fields and herds of livestock. A visitor in 1777 referred to the structure as the "Queen of the Missions." The church's carvings are among its most notable features and the famous "Rose Window" is considered one of the finest pieces of Spanish Colonial ornamentation in the country. Other features are the convento area and the stairway to the belfry and choir loft - each of the 25 risers was hand-hewn from a single live-oak log and constructed without nails or pegs. Also featured is a granary with flying buttresses, a gristmill, restored defensive walls and quarters.


Misión San Juan Capistrano was established in 1716 as Misión San Jose de los Nazoris in East Texas.[2] The mission was renamed and moved in 1731 to San Antonio. Located on Mission Road, San Juan was listed on the National Register on February 23, 1972. Mission San Juan Capistrano (originally christened in 1716 as La Misión San José de los Nazonis and located in East Texas) was founded in 1731 by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order, on the eastern banks of the San Antonio River in present-day Bexar County, Texas. The new settlement (part of a chain of Spanish missions) was named for a 15th-century theologian and "warrior priest" who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
The first primitive capilla (chapel) was built out of brush and mud. Eventually a campanile, or "bell tower" containing two bells was incorporated into the structure, which was replaced by a long hall with a flat roof and an attractive belfry around 1756. Around 1760 construction of a larger church building was begun on the east side of the Mission compound, but was never completed due to the lack of sufficient labor. Mission San Juan did not prosper to the same extent as the other San Antonio missions because lands allotted to it were not sufficient to plant vast quantities of crops, or breed large numbers of horses and cattle; a dam was constructed in order to supply water to the Mission's acequia, or irrigation system. (the Mission reportedly owned 1,000 head of cattle, 3,500 sheep and goats, and 100 horses in 1762). The outpost was also subjected to frequent Indian attacks.
Some 265 neophytes resided in adobe huts at the Mission in 1756; by 1790 the natives were living in stone quarters, though their number had dropped to 58. San Juan Capistrano was administered by the College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro until March of 1773, when it was placed under the care of the College of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas. The Mission was secularized on July 14, 1794, after which time it was attended by the resident priest at Mission San Francisco de la Espada, until about 1813; it was then attended by the one remaining missionary at the nearby Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo until 1824. Mission San Juan was largely neglected until 1840, when religious services were once again conducted, this time by diocesan priests. Members of the Claretian and Redemptorist Orders also held mass in the church until 1967, when the Franciscans returned to Mission San Juan.


Misión San Francisco de la Espada was established in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas near present-day Augusta.[1] and renamed San Francisco de los Neches in 1721. The mission was moved in 1731 to San Antonio and given its current name. Located on Espada Road, this mission was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1972. Mission San Francisco de la Espada appears as remote today as it did in the mid 1700s. It boasts the best preserved segments of the historic acequias (the irrigation system designed to provide water for crops), part of which includes the still working Espada Dam and Aqueduct. The Espada Aqueduct, which carries water from the San Antonio River across Piedras Creek, continues to feed the original mission irrigation system. Espada Dam, built between 1731 and 1740, is the best existing example of the four Franciscan-designed dams and is still in use today. Combined, these structures represent perhaps the best surviving physical assembly of an 18th century Spanish irrigation network in the United States. Founded in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas southwest of present-day Alto, Texas (at approx. coords. 31.5482°, -95.2397°), Mission San Francisco de la Espada was the first mission established in Texas. There are older missions currently in West Texas, but they were in Mexico at the time they were established.
Three priests, three soldiers and supplies were left among the Nabedache Indians. The new mission was dedicated on June 1, 1690. A smallpox epidemic in the winter of 1690-1691 killed an estimated 3,300 people in the area. The Nabedaches believed the Spaniards brought the disease and hostilities developed between the two groups.
Drought besieged the mission in the summers of 1691 and 1692, and the Nabedache wished to be rid of the mission. Under threat of personal attack, the priests began packing their belongings in the fall of 1693. On October 25, 1693, the padres burned the mission and retreated toward Monclova. The party lost its way and did not reach Monclova until Febrauary 17, 1694.
The mission was re-established in the same area on July 5, 1716 as Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas. The new mission had to be abandoned in 1719 because of conflict between Spain and France.
The mission was tried once more on August 5, 1721 as San Francisco de los Neches. As the Nabedache were no longer interested in the mission, and France had abandoned effort to lay claim in the area, the mission was temporarily relocated along the Colorado River in July 1730. Mission Tejas State Park encompasses the original site of the mission.
The Mission Espada Acequia (irrigation) system can still be seen today. The main ditch continues to carry water to the mission and its former farm lands. This water is still used by residents living on these neighboring lands.


After we were done the Mission Trail we did a few caches other than the one at Mission Concepcion. We did 3 NRV caches along the Mission Hike & Bike Trail first. Then we did 2 virtuals a 2 part virtual starting at the Espada Aqueduct and then we had to go to the Espada Dam Park to find out the name on a small tree that was donated to the park. Come to find out it was donated by John F. Kennedy.

The other cache was located on a deserted road that had a railroad track running along it and it had some ghostly tails about it. The story goes this way and is named The Haunted "Ghost Tracks" of San Antonio. Just south of San Antonio, Texas, in an unremarkable neighborhood not far from the San Juan Mission is an intersection of roadway and railroad track that has become somewhat famous in the catalog of American ghost lore. The intersection, so the story goes, was the site of a tragic accident in which several school-aged children were killed - but their ghosts linger at the spot. And the curious from all over the country come to this section of railroad track to witness firsthand the paranormal phenomena they've heard takes place there. Back in the 1930s or 1940s, a school bus full of children was making its way down the road and toward the intersection when it stalled on the railroad tracks. A speeding train smashed into the bus, killing 10 of the children and the bus driver. Since that dreadful accident many years ago, any car stopped near the railroad tracks will be pushed by unseen hands across the tracks to safety. It is the spirits of the children, they say, who push the cars across the tracks to prevent a tragedy and fate like their own. Even today, cars line up at the haunted intersection to see if the legend is true. The driver stops the cars some 20 to 30 yards from the tracks and puts the car in neutral gear. Some even turn off their engines. And sure enough, even though it appears that the road is on an upward grade, the car begins to roll. It rolls slowly first, then steadily gaining speed - seemingly of its own accord and against gravity - up and over the tracks. This has been tested time and time again, and cars really do roll up and over the tracks - every time. But that's not all. The second half of this legend is that if a light powder - like talcum or baby powder - is sprinkled over the car's trunk and rear bumper, tiny fingerprints and handprints will appear - the prints of the ghost children pushing the car. Many who have tried it swear that indeed they can see the evidence of small children's handprints in the powder.

After finishing these caches we headed back to the coach and did our afternoon thing, had dinner, and watched TV for awhile. Well that was our day so until tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick