Lompoc - La Purísima Concepcion Mission

This mission station is the only one situated in the State Historic Park and is located in a charming valley surrounded by the Santa Ynez Mountains. After the first mission building had been completely destroyed in the 1812 earthquake, the Fathers moved their mission somewhat further north, but there too, not far from the old Camino Real, they were still pursued by misfortune.

A disastrous drought, a fire and finally in 1824 an Indian rising crushed by Spanish troops did not allow the original building plans to come to fruition. La Purisma is the only mission without an inner courtyard. Secularization further affected it, until finally there was little left but ruins.

Places of interest

In the 1930s La Purisma was restored from the ground up by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a body formed by the Roosevelt government, with the result that no other mission gives such a good insight into life in the mission stations. In addition to the church, a monastery, military barracks, a tannery, a soap factory, various workshops and the water-reservoir have been rebuilt in their old authentic form, so that visiting them is essential for a real understanding of days gone by.

Location

The best route to the mission, the ruins of which can still be seen and which forms part of the town of Lompoc, is via the U.S. 101 and CA 246 (Buellton exit).