Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, Santa Cruz (must see)

Mission Santa Cruz was a Spanish mission founded by the Franciscan order. The mission was founded in 1791 and named for the feast of the Exultation of the Cross, the name that the explorer Gaspar de Portola gave to the area when he camped on the banks of the San Lorenzo River on October 17, 1769, and erected a wooden cross. As with the other California missions, Mission Santa Cruz served as a site for ecclesiastical conversion of natives, first the Ohlone, the original inhabitants of the region, and later the Yokuts from the east.

The current Holy Cross Church was built on the site of the original mission church in 1889, and it remains an active parish of the Diocese of Monterey. A half-size replica of the original mission church was built near the mission site in the 1930s and functions as a chapel of Holy Cross Church. The mission complex at one time included as many as 32 buildings.

The Neary-Rodriguez Adobe is the only surviving building from the original mission. It was a dormitory for native acolytes and today it functions as a museum of the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park. This little museum focuses on historical visual culture and carries a permanent collection of historical artifacts that exemplify the history of Santa Cruz. The museum offers many interesting activities and their program also includes tours of the Evergreen Cemetery, Octagon building and the Davenport Jail Museum. This building is an excellent venue for visitors interested in the unique history of Santa Cruz.