Mission Santa Ines - or the verbose La Misión de Nuestra Santa Inés, Virgen y Martir - The Mission of Saint Agnes of Rome, Virgin and Martyr - is nestled about halfway between Mission Santa Barbara and Mission La Purisima Concepcion to help with some of the overcrowding at those two missions.

As with others in Southern California, a powerful December 1812 earthquake - this one on the 21st (another a few weeks earlier, on December 8, damaged or destroyed other missions, including the fatal collapse at Mission San Juan Capistrano) - destoryed much of the original Mission Santa Indes church. Locals rebuilt the church, this time with 5 to 6-foot-thick walls, dedicating the new place of worship on 1817.

As with so many other missions, Santa Ines was secularizized, though a year later than some (in 1835), and much of the mission lands were given away in land grants. In 1843, California's Mexican governor gave away a chunk of land that, by circumstance, to the first seminarian college in California, on the mission grounds. By 1881, however, the college was abandoned and the buildings were in a state of decay.Fortunately, a local family - the Donahues - arrived in 1882 and looked after the mission; Father Alexander Buckler arrived in 1904 and also took on a caretaker role for the grounds. As the town of Solvang sprung up in the early 1900s, reconstruction efforts began; significiant progress took hold in 1947 when the Hearst Foundation provided funding for the effort. (Restoration work continues even today.)

Founded: September 17, 1804 (#19) by Father Pedro Estevan Tapis, in present-day Solvang, California at 1760 Mission Drive.

Visit: Admission is $5 adults, children under 12 are free (docent-guided tours are $6 per adult, children 12 and under are free); as of July 2018. 9am to 4:30pm daily.

Learn more: Mission's Web Site * Wikipedia: Mission Santa Ines * Photos I Took * Tour Map (PDF will open in a new window; copyright Mission Santa Ines)