Mission to the Missions
The San Antonio Missions exist along Mission Road, tied together by a purpose to teach local Indians the way of Spanish life and religion. From north to south, there is the Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero, first mission on the San Antonio river), Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan, and Mission Espada. My focus was Concepcion down through Espada.
I parked at Mission Concepcion.
Mission Concepcion is the oldest unrestored stone church in America. Like the other three Missions on my route, it is still an active church, holding services every week. 11 am on Saturday, though, the place was fairly empty: only a few other cars in the parking lot.
There is little left of the limestone wall built around the Mission grounds, and a small testament to the on site quarry that supplied the stone, but the church still stands tall.
The front doors to the church are kept closed, visitors directed around to the back entrance, behind the convento, the living quarters of the missionaries.
The church was my first stop.
The frescos are a big selling point of Concepcion, standing out boldly against the walls.
The church itself, though, is more than just its frescos. It is a stunning building, awe inspiring.
From the church, I checked out the convento. This is where most of the educational material is, signs explaining the life of the missionaries and the Indians, and the purpose of the missions. They have even integrated (at all of the missions) cell phone tours, providing numbers you can dial that give you information about the location, and specific topics depending on the number. Concepcion has state park volunteers staffing the visitors center and doing scheduled tours, but only a couple (I saw two while I was there) so the cell phone tours really allow for a little customization of the experience.
The park across the street is little more than an open field until you get down to the riverbank, but it also has its piece of historical significance. Many know of the Alamo and the historic battle, a major loss to the Texan soldiers based there. However, before that battle was the Battle of Concepcion. In late October of 1835, a 30 minute battle took place at this mission, and the Texans secured a victory. In fact, there was only one lost Texan soldier, and one wounded, while there were over 50 Mexican casualties. Perhaps it wasn't a major historical battle of epic proportions, but it is something to remember, a successful occurrence of men fighting for their independence.
If you want to take the family, there is plenty of open space outside, and the park across the street. Take the park path all the way down to the river (a bit of a walk) and there's a playground. The visitor's center provides a junior ranger activity book too, encouraging kids to learn about the missions.
Mission Concepcion is a nice quick trip out, if you want to make it your only stop. I'd recommend early visits, as it doesn't provide a lot of shade outdoors, and it gets real hot.
If you want to visit all the missions, Concepcion is a good starting point. You can take either Mission Road down to San Jose, or you can head out to the river and take the riverwalk trail between missions.
However, if you're driving between the four of them and don't mind backtracking a little, I recommend that you start at Mission San Jose, the biggest of the missions and the location of the major visitors center, sporting a small museum and short film about the missions.
That being said, Concepcion was my favorite stop of the day.
