My World: Tumacacori Doors (part 3)

Door to orchard seen through mortuaty chapel door 11-5-09

The shadows of the past fall on the arched doorway of the unfinished morturay chapel.


The shadow of Tumacacori Mission falls on the graveyard.

Doorway to the convento and an ordinary life.

Doorways. They are so symbolic. As 2009 draws to an end with 2010 just a few days away, I can't help but think of it as passing through a doorway to a New Year. What will 2010 hold for me and for all of us? Will I pass through the open doors that present themselves to me in the New Year? Will you? What will happen in MY World next year? I will never find out if I don't go though that door! Click on the link below. It is your door to other worlds!

My World Tuesday

My World: Tumacacori NHP part 2

Tumacacori Mortuary chapel and Mission 11-5-09

In November I visited Tumacacori National Historic Park for the very first time with my friend Sherri. You can read part one by clicking here. I found this place satisfying on so many levels. Not only is it beautiful and peaceful but it also has excellent birding, hiking and photography opportunities. Located along the Anza Trail, one can hike along the Santa Cruz River through mesquite bosques and desert scrub. The original De Anza Trail went from Mexico to California. Parts of the trail have been restored but currently it is still fragmented. Last week I showed you some of the exterior of the mission. Today we have a tour of the interior and the convento.

Mission Interior looking towards main entrance and former choir loft.

Adobe walls and carved wooden door.

Alter Area 11-5-09


(click here to see what it used to look like.)



Sanctuary Dome 11-5-09

Detail of pillar (click to enlarge)

Sanctuary dome seen against a brilliant November sky
from the convento area.



The convento was not a convent in the traditional sense but rather a collection of buildings attached to the Mission used for various purposes.

Interior of convento 11-5-09

Kiva fireplace in convento 11-5-09

Tumacacori Questions

Whose feet have walked on these floors?

What meals have been cooked in this place?

How many prayers have risen like smoke

in blue Arizona skies

or stormy gray Monsoons?
How much death has happened here,

and how much life?
I pass by today

I walk with ease over this sacred ground

without fear of attack

or hunger

but I wonder

with each dusty step I take,

who was here before me?

and that's...

...MY World Tuesday

Skywatch Friday: Tumacacori Convent Window

A blue November sky shines through this ancient window from the Tumacacori Mission convent. Green trees and utility wires are framed by the adobe and plaster walls of the past.

Photo taken 11-5-09 by Kathie Brown with the Nikon D80 70-300mm lens.

(Please click on the photo to enlarge for the very best view!)

See more Sky views at

Skywatch Friday...

...your window on the world!

Announcement: Local Art Show Opening

at the Eckstrom-Columbus Library

tonight from 4-6:00 P.M.

and guess who has 3 painting on display?

Yes, I plan on being there!

The Eckstrom-Columbus Library is located

at the corner of 22nd St. and Columbus Blvd in Tucson, AZ

The Art Show runs from Now through January 31

My World: Tumacacori National Historic Park

Tumacacori Mission 11-5-09 photo by Kathie Brown w/Nikon D80

(all photos click to enlarge)

The Tumacacori Mission is part of Tumacacori National Historic Park. Located approximately 35 miles south of Tucson, AZ, it is the location of the 1800 Mission of San Jose de Tumacacori. The current ruin is all that remains of a 150 year attempt to establish a permanent Mission in the area. First started by Father Kino and the Jesuits in 1691 on the east bank of the Santa Cruz River, the mission was later moved to the west bank. When the Jesuits priest were expelled from New Spain as it was called in 1767 the Franciscans took over and in 1800 start to build the current church. Its overall designed was scaled back twice and in the end it was never completed. In 1848 the war with Mexico, Apache raids and the hard winter all delt fatal blows to the mission. In December of that year the solders finally abandoned the fort and the final residents left.

Entrance from the visitor center to the patio garden.

Patio Garden



My friend, Sherri 11-5-09



Looking back from inside the church towards the visitor's center.




Exit from the Sacristy



Mortuary chapel and graveyard behind the church.

The unfinished mortuary chapel.

In the walled area around the Mortuary chapel many locals were buried. When the mission was abandoned this area was used to corral cattle and horses. The graves were trampled or destroyed by weather, grave robbers and treasure hunters. In the 20th century some local families started to use the graveyard once again. According to the Tumacacori Interpretive Guide, 593 burials were recorded between 1755-1825. People who moved into the area around 1900 came to know the area as "Campo Santo" or "Holy Ground."

The last person ever buried at the mission...

...a little girl, Juanita T Alegria.

Her grave is maintained to this day and it is the only one that has been identified.

A view of the Mission and the convent from the east looking west.

It is a view which inspires art.

Yes, there are birds at Tumacacori. I saw many species as soon as I entered the patio garden. I counted broad-billed hummingbirds, vermilion flycatchers, all sorts of sparrows and others.

An Audubon's yellow-rumped warbler on a picnic table...

A.K.A. a butter butt!

...and that's MY World Tuesday

To see more photos from the Tumacacori Mission come back for the next posts:

• Inside the Mission
• Inside the Convent
• Windows and doors of Tumacacori