Friday, January 31, 2014

The Mission Bells


This week I've been posting about San Juan Bautista. I can't let the week go by without a stop at Mission San Juan Bautista, the 15th mission that the Franciscan friars established in California. Founded in 1797, the mission was built near the Popeloutchom, a Mutsun village.

The mission did not have a bell tower at first. The one we see today was built in 1976 when the mission was being reconstructed. Originally, the mission's two bells hung from a wooden bell rack. The bells rung in the early morning, noon, and evening, according to  Issac Mylar in Early Days at the Mission San Juan Bautista. He wrote,"They could be heard from six to seven miles away—yes, even over to the sheep ranch owned by Mr. Hollister, now the flourishing county seat of San Benito County."
 
Resources for Mission San Juan Bautista:
California Missions Resource Center: San Juan Bautista
Old Mission San Juan Bautista
Early Days at the Mission San Juan Bautista by Issac Mylar (originally published in 1929)s

Note: So that FCC won't get on my case, the link to Issac Mylar's book leads you to Amazon.com. And, if you happen to purchase it via that link, I may get a bit of change for my effort of referring you to the page.

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