Several missions, including San Gabriel, La Purisima, San Luis Obispo, San Antonio, and Santa Clara are marked as destinations on the Anza Trail.ģ5★5′12″N 119☄2′0″WMap of El Camino Real (Edit GPX)Įl Camino Real can be traveled at any time of year. De Anza visited the existing missions and established several presidios and pueblos.

In the postwar era, freeways were built to bypass portions of the old road, though many portions of these early roads can still be driven or walked on to this day, and a number of unpaved relics of the original road exist parallel to the current highway, most notably at San Miguel and La Purisima.īetween Missions San Gabriel and Dolores, El Camino Real is designated the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail to commemorate Juan Bautista de Anza's expeditions to California in the 1770s.

Thanks to the efforts of the Auto Club of Southern California and local boosters, El Camino Real was one of the first paved highways in California and became established as a traveler itinerary. Beginning in the early 20th century, following a renewed interest in California's Spanish heritage, the missions were restored or preserved as historical landmarks. In the 19th century, many of the missions fell into neglect as California became a more secular society under Mexican rule, the missions and the land around them were sold and the mission system came to an end, with some of the missions surviving as functioning Catholic churches to this day. Similar missions, and similar roads connecting them, were built in other regions of Spanish North America, including in Texas, New Mexico, and Baja California. Though thousands of Native Americans were ostensibly converted to Catholicism, many others died of overwork or from diseases brought by the padres. Many of the missions had successful farming and ranching operations, and at one point one-sixth of California's land was mission-controlled. A typical mission layout consisted of a courtyard bordered by the church, workshops, and living quarters for friars and neophytes. Though thick adobe mission walls provided relief from the warm California sun, they were susceptible to collapse during earthquakes. Many of the mission buildings were built of adobe (sun-dried bricks of mud, clay, water and straw). The first mission started in 1769 and the last was consecrated in 1823, only 25 years before California came under American control. The first nine missions were established by Junipero Serra, while the remaining twelve were established by Serra's successors. Understand Junipero Serra founded the first nine California missions Days of the Padres Įl Camino Real and the missions, pueblos (villages), and presidios (forts) along it, were established by the Franciscan friars to ensure safe passage through California during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but also to convert the various Native American tribes to Catholicism and to solidify the Spanish claim to the region. A trip along El Camino Real offers a fascinating look into California's history and takes you past scenic coastline, picturesque countryside, and through the heart of the state's largest cities. Stretching over 600 miles (1000 km) from San Diego in the south to Sonoma in the north, the route traverses much of the state and has been a popular traveler itinerary for California motorists for nearly a century. A mission bell marker along El Camino RealĮl Camino Real ( The Royal Road) is a historic road linking the 21 Spanish missions of California.

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