Santa Barbara County Notables
Source: Wikipedia
Mission Santa Ines
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mission_StInes.jpg
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mission_Santa_Ines_plaque.JPG
Mission Santa Inés and
its original four-bell campanile
("bell tower"), circa
1900.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Ines_circa_1900_Keystone-Mast.jpg
Location: 1760 Mission Drive, Solvang, California
History
On February 21, 1824 a
soldier beat a young Chumash Indian and sparked a revolt. Some of
the Indians went to get the Indians from Missions Santa Barbara
and La Purísima to help in the fight. When the fighting was
over, the Indians themselves put out the fire that had started at
the Mission. Many of the Indians left to join other tribes in the
mountains; only a few Indians remained at the Mission.
In 1833 the missions in California were secularized, and their
land given in land grants to settlers.
Highwayman Jack Powers briefly took over Mission Santa Inés and
the adjacent Rancho San Marcos in 1853, intending to rustle the
cattle belonging to rancher Nicolas A. Den, but he was defeated
in a bloodless armed confrontation. He was not to be ousted from
the Santa Barbara area until 1855.
The Danish town of Solvang was built up around the Mission proper
in the early 1900s. It was through the efforts of Father
Alexander Buckler in 1904 that reconstruction of the Mission was
undertaken, though major restoration was not possible until 1947
when the Hearst Foundation donated money to pay the for project.
The restoration continues to this day, and the Capuchin
Franciscan Fathers take excellent care of the Mission. Today the
Mission is an active parish; there is also a museum, gift shop
and information center.
This page was last updated August 2, 2009.
