San Antonio Missions

Mission Espada


Inside Mission Espada


The Espada Aqueduct

The main entrance of San Jose. Check out the protected gun torrents.

One of the three wells at the mission

Madelyn on the aqueduct bridge

A 12ft deep aqueduct used for turning the gristmill above


San Jose Church

Architectural detail at Mission San Jose

Being the history nerd that I am, we can not go some where with out checking out ALL of the local historical sites. I grew in San Antonio and remember visiting the Missions on field trips, but like most middle schoolers of the day, I could not appreciate the great value of these historical landmarks. So when I had some free time in San Antonio over Christmas break, we acted like a tourist and we went Mission hopping. It would have been awesome to visit all five that day, but Madelyn had a great time at Mission Jose and Espada, two of the five missions located along the mission trail; the Alamo being the most notable. Because we went on a Saturday, all the park's docents and reenactment volunteers where there with lots of hands on demonstrations. Maddy got to help hammer out some nails at the blacksmith, grind wheat at the gristmill and run around the open encampments. Since you already know that I am self proclaimed history buff, I went a head a head and bought a National Parks Passport, in which you get unique stamps at each of the parks historical registries. This way even when I am old, I can still remember all the places we visited together. What was amazing about Mission Jose and Espada is that they have have a continual active parish that still serves the community since they were found hundreds of years ago. Right now I am really trying to resist the urge to write a PowerPoint lesson using all the pictures we took. Next time we are in San Antonio, maybe we visit the other three missions.