Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

Monterey County · 3 miles southwest of Soledad · location approximate

This mission, founded October 9, 1791, by Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, ministered to the Indians of the Salinas Valley. Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga died here July 24, 1814, and was buried in the chapel. Prosperous in its early years, Soledad declined after 1825. Father Vincente Francisco Sarría, who stayed on in poverty, faithfully served the Indians until his death in 1835. Secularized in 1835, the mission was regranted to the Bishop of Monterey in 1859. In ruins after 1874, the chapel was reconstructed and dedicated under the auspices of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, October 1955.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection

Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

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