Logo Picture Left SideLogo Picture Right SideLogo Text at Center

San Antonio de Pala Asistencia – Uses of Local Stone
(Today known as Mission San Antonio de Pala)

The Mission Cemetery

Continued on Page 1 2

Please note that the Mission San Antonio de Pala Mission church was restored over the years. Below is a photograph from the “San Antonio de Pala Asistencia Mission” web site that shows what the mission looked like in 1875. According to one of the signs in the Cemetery: “This is the original Mission cemetery. Here are buried the remains of hundreds of Native American converts to Catholicism as well as other early California pioneers.”

We visited the Pala Mission cemetery early on a spring day in May 2012. Our photographs of the mission cemetery begin at the back enrance near the parking lot, moved towards the Mission Bell Tower located at the front of the mission, and later that day back towards the back entrance again. (Scroll down this page to see the first set of photographs that we took of the an Antonio de Pala Mission Cemetery.)

There are a few granite cemetery stones in the cemetery, and I am trying to ascertain if any of the granite originated from the old Magee Granite Quarry. (The quarry is located on land that, according to court records, was purchased in 1942 by Robert MaGee, a member of the Pala Band. He purchased the parcel of land on which the granite quarry is located from the United States government.  Granite from the quarry was first produced about 1955 and quarrying continued intermittently until the 1980s by companies leased the quarry.  Today the quarry is inaccessible as the road to the granite quarry is via land owned by the Pala Band of Indians and a private owner.) Peggy B. & Pat Perazzo

Pala Asistencia circa 1875 (Wikipedia) If you’d like to read thehistory of the mission, see this article on Wikipedia:  “San Antonio de Pala Asistencia” section on WikipediaPeggy B. Perazzo Pala Asistencia circa 1875 (Wikimedia)
Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala

Looking across the cemetery to the Mission San Antonio de Pala Bell Tower

The back entrance to the cemetery from the parking lot.

Part of the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Part of the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Part of the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery

 

The 3 photos on this row show a panorama of the Cemetery (from left to right)

 

Part of the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Part of the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery The Pala cemetery sign

 

 

 

Marble cemetery stone in the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Bell Tower of Mission Mission San Antonio de Pala Bell Tower of Mission Mission San Antonio de Pala

Marble cemetery stone on granite base

 

The free-standing Bell Tower of Mission Mission San Antonio de Pala

Marble cemetery stone in the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Towards the Bell Tower from the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Part of the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery

Marble cemetery stone

 

 

Part of the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Part of the Back entrance to the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Towards the Bell Tower from the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery

 

 

 

Granite cross/cemetery stone in the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Closeup photo of the granite cross/cemetery stone in the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery

One of the cemetery stones created from granite

Closeup photo of the granite cemetery stone to the left

Granite cross/cemetery stone in the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery Closeup photo of the granite cross/cemetery stone in the Mission San Antonio de Pala cemetery

This another cemetery stone created from granite

Closeup photo of the granite cemetery stone to the left

Continued on Page 1 2

[Top of Page]