Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia
Misión de Santa Margarita by Henry Chapman Ford, 1881
|
|
 Location of Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia in California
|
|
| Location | Santa Margarita, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35°24′2″N 120°36′44″W / 35.40056°N 120.61222°WCoordinates: 35°24′2″N 120°36′44″W / 35.40056°N 120.61222°W |
| Name as founded | Asistencia de la Misión de San Luis, Obispo de Tolosa |
| English translation | Sub-Mission to the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa |
| Patron | Saint Margaret of Lavinio and Cortona, Italy |
| Nickname(s) | "San Luis Obispo County's Third Mission" |
| Founding date | 1787 |
| Military district | Third |
|
Native tribe(s) Spanish name(s) |
Chumash Obispeño |
| Native place name(s) | Trolole |
| Governing body | Private entity |
| Current use | Unknown |
| Reference no. |
|
The Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia was established in 1787 as an asistencia ("sub-mission") to Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, then in the Spanish Las Californias Province. Its site is near the present day city of Santa Margarita, in San Luis Obispo County, central California.
The asistencia compound was located north of the mission and of Cuesta Grade, in the Santa Lucia Mountains, on a site Padre Junípero Serra had previously chosen in 1772. It was named for an Italian saint. It was established for Indian Reductions of the large number of Salinan (Obispeño) Californian Indians, who's southern homeland included the area. The compound also served as an outpost, chapel, and storehouse.
The adobe and stone chapel building measured 120 feet (37 m) by 20 feet (6.1 m), with a chapel and eight auxiliary rooms for the use of the majordomo, his servants, and as quarters for visiting priests. One chamber functioned as a granary for storing mission crops. The Mission Indians were engaged in extensive grain cultivation in the fields around it.
When in November 1818 the French privateer Hipólito Bouchard raided coastal colonial Alta California settlementents, many local residents sought refuge at this inland site.
The Santa Margarita Asistencia was secularized along with Mission San Luis Obispo in 1835, and suffered the same neglect that many mission properties did after that time. In 1841, the Mexican land grant for Rancho Santa Margarita was issued to Joaquín Estrada. After the 2 day American capture of Monterey in 1842, General Pío Pico and General José Castro met at the rancho to discuss strategy. During the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt, the forces of Captain John C. Frémont captured an Indian bearing a message at the rancho, from Jose Jesus Pico, the Mexican Pueblo of San Luis Obispo Justice of the Peace, and ordered his execution. In December of that year Frémont also arrested Estrada and others at the rancho, releasing them only after securing their pledges of service to Frémont.
...
Wikipedia