Mision Nuestra Senora del Pilar - The Town's Beginning

Photo: Rafael Saldana from mexico city, Mexico, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on Todos Santos: Pueblo Magico Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Todos Santos started right here. In 1724 the Jesuit priest Jaime Bravo set up an outpost near this spring, and in 1733 it became a full mission, Santa Rosa de las Palmas, under Father Sigismundo Taraval. The Guaycura and Pericu peoples rose against the Spanish missions the next year. The mission was reestablished in 1737, and after 1748 it took the name it still carries, Nuestra Senora del Pilar.

The mission years were hard on the local people. Epidemics of smallpox and measles swept through again and again, and the mission was finally closed in 1825. The church in front of you has been rebuilt and changed over the centuries, and it is still the town's working parish.

If the doors are open, dress modestly and keep your voice low inside. The Virgin of Pilar is the town's patron, and her feast around October 12 brings the biggest fiesta of the year.

Getting here: Walk to the south side of the plaza; the mission church faces the square.

Did you know?: In 1768 the Franciscans moved hundreds of Guaycura people from missions farther north to Todos Santos to work its fields.

Photo op: Stand back in the plaza and frame the church's bell tower against the blue sky with the palms beside it.

More on Wikipedia: Mision Santa Rosa de las Palmas · Jaime Bravo · Sigismundo Taraval · Pericues

Mision Nuestra Senora del Pilar - The Town's Beginning

Stops on this tour