The city of San Antonio, Texas is well known around the world for the battle that took place at the Alamo in 1836. The 13 day siege of the Alamo by the Mexican army, led by General Antonio Lopez, which ended on March 6, 1836, will never be forgotten. Nor should it be, nearly 200 Texans died in the battle of the Alamo. “Remember the Alamo”, would be the battle cry in later encounters with Mexico in the fight for Texas freedom.
The Alamo attracts visitors from all around the world, but I’m not going to focus today on the Alamo. You see; the Alamo was actually a mission, Mission San Antonio de Valero, and was one of five missions built along the San Antonio River starting in the early 1700’s. Today I am going to share the story of the “queen” of the chain of missions, Mission San Jose. 
Built in 1720 and named mission “San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo” by the founder, Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus, it was the largest mission of the five. Now referred to as Mission San Jose, it was home to the native Indian tribe of Coahuiltecan Indians. The Spaniards would use the mission to protect the tribe from other hostile tribes from the northern part of the territory while trying to convert the Indians to Catholicism.
The missions were not intended to be forts, but to serve as communities for the Indian people, living and working for the success of all the members of the mission. As hostilities grew in the area the missions were indeed fortified with large stone walls that still stand to this day.
The Indians of Mission San Jose were mainly peasant farming people, working the fields growing crops and raising small herds of livestock outside the mission compound.
A few years back I took the family here to Mission San Jose while we were in San Antonio. Yesterday I happened to be in that part of town on business so I skipped lunch and spent an hour revisiting this beautiful piece of history.
The entire complex is the size of a extra large city block, all enclosed by huge stone walls. The wall also functions as the back wall of the several small rooms, a better description would be one room apartments, where the Indians slept and kept their belongings.
There are several stone water wells that served to provide water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene located inside the complex. The tops of the wells are boarded shut for safety but the wells still have water in them. Cooking of food was done in the stone ovens which are also located in several spots along the apartments.
The complex has a blacksmith shop where iron and metal working was done. It made farming implements and bullets, along with the horseshoes you would expect a blacksmith shop to make. There was also a mill for processing grains and a room for spinning cotton into textiles to make clothing.
Should you decide to visit Mission San Jose you will be pleased to know that admission is FREE.
Absolutely free and parking is free; the mission is under the operation of the U.S. Department of the Interior and is a National Historic site. It was also designated as a World Heritage Site in July of 2015.
There is a visitor center that has a collection of artifacts on display that have survived the years. There are also 2 small theaters that show a short documentary film about the mission and what you will see as you tour the complex. I highly recommend viewing the film before you go looking around. There are tour guides, but they aren’t really necessary, as everything is covered in the film and you can easily find them on your own without help. Like any other place of historic significance there is a gift shop selling items.
I will tell you that you can see the film and the entire site in less than two hours. Summer heat in San Antonio can be brutal, the fall or spring might be the best time to come see this site. When the family was with me it was summer, and we were toast by the time we were done.
Yesterday it was very comfortable, in the low 70’s, and I just about had the place to myself being that it was a weekday.
That is all for now, so enjoy the photos and get Mission San Jose on your bucket list; I promise you won’t regret visiting this place.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
#unmentionables all photos are property of @sultnpapper
Great article! Thanks, I appreciate it and moved here 20 years ago because of the generosity that is still incorporated in the people.
Well, thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. Have you been to the missions?
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Thank you @tfame3865
good article. I have read it. please vote for my blogs and follow at me
Thanks reading and complimenting my post. I'll visit your page and see what all you are about. I only up vote content that I find interesting , I don't vote for vote and things like that. Cheers.
Thank you sir. you are a nice man in my own point of view.
Do you know how these missions compare to those in California? I've been to some of them, mainly as destinations for school field trips. They were interesting to visit, and now I barely remember...
I have not been to the ones in California, with the exception of the Mission Inn, in Riverside, CA. which is a fully functioning hotel. This one, Mission San Jose, obviously wouldn't hold a candle to the Mission Inn. The Mission Inn building is way more intricate in design and detail work in the original construction of the structure..
Looks nice :)
Thanks, I couldn't get the well & the oven side by side . I was running out of time, so I went with it like it is.
Thanks again.
Lovely architecture, and an amazing amount of history in that place! Thanks for taking us along for the ride! 😊
It truly is the "queen" of the 5 missions, the Alamo gets the most attention but this is by far the most interesting as far as buildings and set up/
Nice! Thanks for sharing this. My in-laws live near San Antonio, so it has a special place in my heart. My husband and I have seen a few of the missions, especially the Alamo. I forget the other one we went to but this one doesn't look familiar. When we head back up there, I'll have to see if we can check it out. Thanks for posting all the great pics and information. Now I want to see the inside of the church. The well and little oven are really cool. :)
Each time I have been there I always imagine what it would have been like to live there in that time period with cowboys, Indians, & Mexicans all battling with each other over land rights. The inside is beautiful, I tried to find pictures on the internet but I wasn't successful.
absolutly well done. well written, articulate piece of writing. I would love to go down and check that out.
Cheers!
Thank you Steve for the compliment. If you are ever in the San Antonio area you should check it out. There is a lot more but I'm not a "picture" guy, I use a few as possible. Most of my posts are picture free zones.