Step Back in Time at La Purisima Mission

Take a journey back in time at La Purísima Mission State Historic Park to learn about the history of California missions and the hardships endured by Chumash people under the Spanish rule at La Purisima Mission.

Located on the ancestral lands of the Chumash people at a place they call 'Amuwu', La Purisima Mission is the 11th California Spanish colonial mission and was the site of 1824 revolt which was the largest Indigenous revolt on the west coast of North America.

In establishing the missions, the Spanish brought European building techniques, trades, and livestock including sheep and cattle, as well as crops like wheat, corn, grapes, and beans. The mission industry prospered using the exploited labor of the Chumash people to build the mission, manage the livestock herds, grow the crops and produce trade items. At the same time the introduced agricultural practices of grazing large herds and growing non-native crops created an environmental crisis caused by the overgrazing of native meadows, water pollution, and an invasion of non-native plants. Effects of which we still can see today.

Additionally, the Chumash people were exposed to diseases brought in with the Spanish and their livestock that devastated the Chumash community. The Chumash fought to survive the mission era in various ways including subtle acts of resistance, protests and eventually the largest revolt. Today, La Purísima stands as the most fully restored Mission in California surrounded by nearly 2,000 acres of open space providing a place to reflect on the site’s challenging history. Join us to learn about the mission’s story of tragedy and resistance and how Chumash today continue to preserve their culture, their history and their way of life.