Timacacori National Historic Park









Second stop on our tour today took us down toward the Mexican border to explore an area that was home to the O’odham people.  It was here that Spanish priests, not Junipero Serra’s Franciscan contemporaries but Jesuits settled and eventually built three Catholic Churches, Timacacori being the largest, longest active, and best preserved of the three. No matter your politics on the Catholic Churches’ impact on native peoples, it does show what life was like for those living within the mission community between 1691 and 1848.



This site has the ruins of multiple iterations of the different churches that were built in this area to convert the local native peoples. The site has a great museum explaining the battles faced by the natives - the Apaches  being a problem not only fir the missionaries but also the O’odham people. Beautiful location even in 80 plus heat. 







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