Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad

Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad is a California Historical Landmark in Monterey County.

3 miles southwest of Soledad · location approximate

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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1971 register text, presented as a historical document.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 ↗

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1798 · The Coast of N.W. America. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1855 · Map of the Public Surveys in California, 1855 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1859 · Map of the Public Surveys in California, 1859 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1873 · Composite: Topographical Map of Central California Together With a Part of Nevada, Sheets… (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1915 · Soledad, California (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Map of the Public Surveys in California, 1855, 1855, covering the location of Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Map of the Public Surveys in California, 1855, 1855, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyExpected here. This page shows the older published text, and some signs were recast later. Telling us still helps.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

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

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