Missions Along the San Antonio River

There are five missions in this area. The first one built on the San Antonio River was San Antonio de Valero, now known at the Alamo, in 1718. The others are down stream from it at spaces of around three to four miles apart. Some have original stone work still standing and some have original painting still visible. Some chapels are still used. We got to see some nice nativities in the ones that are still being used.
Their chapels were small and narrow.

We came across the middle one, Jan Jose, just driving into town so we stopped in. A lot of it has been restored. It also has a small grist mill with a horizontal wall wheel. It was a small mill.

The Indians had small two room homes that formed the outer walls.
Most Missions weren't enclosed at the beginning but when the Apache Indians started invading them they walled the Missions in for defense. There were outdoor ovens and the foundations of building that were within the walls.

Next to the church was usually a convento where the missionaries lived. These formed some nice arches and were sometimes two stories.

The buildings were made of lime stone and some bricks that they made on site. They weren't meant to last forever. In time the missions were turned over to the Indians and the missionaries only took care of the church duties. Without guidance, the buildings started falling apart. At the time of the Battle of the Alamo, it was used to house military. Due to the history of them, they have been restored. During this time there was even graffiti.
We found an interesting stairs in one of the churches. The steps were cut from logs and stacked one on top of the other.


This is the front of some of the churches.The last one is of Mission Concepcion. You can see the dome that is inside the chapel. It is larger and more elegant than the others. This is the dome inside.
I also found the doors interesting. Most of them were double doors, both of which were very narrow. I also liked the work that was done on the doors themselves.I just found these next two interesting.

Unfortunately, we didn't have sun when we went to most of the missions, so the pictures weren't as interesting. However, it was interesting seeing them.