Historic Sights in Carmel

Carmel

The Mission

A wooden cross stands in front of the bell tower of the reconstructed Mission San Carlos de Borromeo in Carmel. This was the first of the northern missions, founed in 1770. Father Junipero Serra is buried here.


Adobe Madonna in a niche at the Carmel Mission.	The grave marker of Harry Downie, who almost singlehandedly undertook the restoration of Mission San Carlos in Carmel, and then continued on to organize Mission restorations in San Juan Bautista and other locations. Fittingly, his grave is in the yard of the Mission in Carmel, alongside those of Father Junipero Serra and many, many Indian converts.

The first Portola´ expedition, which was sent north from Mission San Diego by Father Junipero Serra, didn't do well. They walked or rode the length of the state as far north as San Francisco, dragging minimal supplies on sledges, searching for a "famoso" harbor sighted 67 years before and named "Monterey" by Vizcaino. They looked at Montery from just to the north, and saw a wide curve of shore with no anchorage as protected as that described by Vizcaino. They lacked the benefit of Vizcaino's directions, which were usable only to someone looking at landmarks from offshore, and saw the country in a different season, which made the rivers look different.

Their travel plans depended upon resupply from the ship San Jose´, which was never seen again after it left San Diego. The group went on to visit and name many geographic features of California, including the San Francisco Bay. Spanish bureaucratic culture prevented them from telling Father Serra what they must have known: that they had discovered a better harbor and better site for a northern capital than any known to the Spanish before. Serra had told them to find Monterey, and that was their only charge.

Within six months, Portola´ and much of the same group had tread back northward. This time Serra himself, who couldn't walk very well, rode the supply ship. Perhaps it was the force of his legendary will that forced the ship to its goal: it certainly wasn't the winds or currents. But on June 3, 1770, Serra said Mass under the great Oak Tree near the beach where Monterey's harbor is now located. Portolá thrust his sword into the earth, guns were fired, and the land was formally claimed for the King of Spain.

The Carmelite Monastery

The Carmelite Monastery perched above San Jose Creek State Beach, between Carmel and Point Lobos. Carmelite nuns first located in Carmel-by-the-Sea in the 1920's but soon found that small town too populated to afford the solitude they sought. A small group of about two dozen now live in this building, built in the 1930s. They never use their voices, except in the most glorious song, which you can hear by attending their daily morning mass.


Arch and inscription above the entryway to the Carmelite Monastery	View from inside the Carmelite Monastery, which sits above "Monastery" (San Jose Creek) Beach.


Prof. Sandy Lydon converses with Father Daniel, who says mass at the Carmelite Monastery.	Prof. Sandy Lydon converses with Father Daniel of the Carmelite Monastery. Sandy's gesture might be a reference to his own past as a Choir Boy.	Father Daniel of the Carmelite Monastery shares a pensive moment with History Professor Sandy Lydon.