La Purisima Mission State Historic Park

Step back in time at La Purísima Mission State Historic Park to discover the culture, customs, and hardships encountered during the mission era of Spanish rule in California.

La Purisima Mission is located on the ancestral land of the Chumash people and was built by the Chumash under Spanish rule. It is the eleventh of the California Missions and was founded on December 8, 1787. The Spanish introduced new building techniques, domestic cattle and sheep as well as crops like wheat, corn, grapes and beans. This in turn brought a new type of work for the Chumash who looked after herds, tanned hides, sheared the sheep. wove blankets, and harvested crops. The new resources of the mission caused devastation to the Chumash home land through overgrazing and water pollution and invasive plants. The Chumash people suffered from foreign diseases which spread through their community. But the resilient Chumash people continued to survive through their ever changing world learning new customs, technologies and religion while holding on to what they could of their own customs and traditions.

Today La Purísima stands as the most fully restored Mission in California. Join us at La Purísima Mission State Historic Park to discover the vast history of the Mission and to recognize the diversity of California’s heritage.