Looking for a peaceful little Saturday getaway from the workweek’s cares and hassles? I know it sounds macabre, but tranquility awaits you within the walls of Mission San Gabriel’s Campo Santo.
Like many history buffs, I find old cemeteries both oddly soothing and profoundly educational. Walking among the plots, statuary and epitaphs, you never know what names you’ll stumble upon. Nor can you help but muse over our common mortality and the many life stories lost forever to time. It’s as much a philosophical as a historical pursuit.
For this little tour of the Great Beyond, postpone any excursions through the original cemetery within the mission’s courtyard walls. Although that smaller, first cemetery dates to 1778 – making it Los Angeles County’s oldest Christian bone yard – few of its approximately 6,000 neophyte graves are marked. (One notable exception is a Native American named Antonio, the burial ground’s first occupant.)
Instead, make a beeline across the parking lot toward the parish’s larger, second church and pass through the skull-adorned gates to the “newer” cemetery. This is the far more visually rewarding resting place for scores of pioneering families, including names like Lugo, Felix, Verdugo and Ortega, whose simple, unassuming monuments belie their importance to early Los Angeles history. (Up until about 1822, deceased Angelenos were usually transported here for burial.)
Once you’ve read enough tombstones, by all means go back, pay the fee, and wander the gardens and museum of L.A.’s “Mother Church” for the usual tourist fare. Dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel on Sept. 8, 1781 near what is now Montebello, the settlement was moved here five years later. It was fourth in California’s chain of 21 missions, and among the most prosperous.
Unfortunately, there’s little left of the once-sprawling complex, so your sightseeing will likely be brief. Afterwards, you’ll find eats, refreshment and maybe even a little curio shopping in the City of San Gabriel’s modest Mission District, a brief stroll west of the mission’s famous campanile and rectory.
Quick glimpses of the last surviving trunks of the padres’ former vineyard (at one time the most renowned in all California) and the nearby Mission Playhouse complete your adventure. Enjoy!
Web Resources:
MapQuest Directions
Mission San Gabriel Museum
City of San Gabriel
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