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