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Texas History Tour - Spanish influence - Mission Espada

Our family vacation for 2021 started in San Antonio.   We thought about doing an architecture tour in Virginia but the requirements that a 2 yr old wear masks all the time was a huge deterrent when we had to finalize plans.  So, we decided to stay in TX where 10 yrs and under are allowed to go without masks.  And, as it happened, most of the places we visited on our trip allowed everyone to be mask free in outside areas.

We stayed in San Antonio at the KOA.  It's an awesome campground and the people were wonderful! They even stayed a few minutes late to fill up our propane because we were too busy to get them filled beforehand.  Dinner the first night was our favorite place to eat - FAZOLI'S!!

Then, we went to visit 1 of 4 missions in the area.  Apparently the Alamo was actually a Presido instead of a mission.  We often confuse it with mission since the only remaining section is actually the church building.  What's the difference?  What we learned is that the presido's are where Spanish soldiers were quartered whereas the missions were where the Indians lived and worked along side Spanish/Catholic missionaries.

All 4 missions are part of the national parks system.  We knew from their website that the park grounds were open dawn to dusk, even if the visitor centers were closed.  So, we decided to start after dinner with a visit to the furthest out mission: Mission San Francisco de la Espada

Mission Espada (1731) was established after the Texas first mission, San Francisco de los Tejas (1690), encountered fevers, floods, and supply problems in the East Texas area and the decision was made to move the mission closer to a more civilized area.


We entered through the mission walls, which were all made of stone, and where also the living quarters of the Indians were.  We picked this trip because we haven't done a TX History tour in this area, but we got Spanish architecture as an added bonus.  The arches are magnificent!! 







The mission forge.....




 




This mission church was completed in 1756.  The friary was build in 1745.  The church building is still in use today and the friary quarters are also still being utilized.







More quarters around the outside walls.  Here, you can see the fireplaces and niches for Catholic statues 




and drainage along one wall which leads toward the aquifer


For many years, this building was used as a school.  




Arches are cool!!!




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