The museum contains a vast store of historical material and displays many original items. Amazingly, it survived the numerous earthquakes. The museum contains a notable collection of vestments, church records and missals, and the church displays some of the original decorations on a wall behind the alter. A historic grape arbor shelters a walkway that transports the visitor back in time, emerging in the lovely gardens that appear today much as they did nearly 200 years ago. Considered to be the best example of mission architecture, it has 37 rooms that have been completely restored and furnished.
Volunteers perform living history demonstrations of mission life such as candle making and weaving.
In the garden area, water flows through a series of pools and a fountain before passing through the lavandareas where the mission women washed clothes. Plants were brought from the 20 other mission gardens to form one of the finest collections of early California flora in existence. Horses, cattle, burros and the four-horned Churro sheep graze in the quiet pastures. The humble chapel built of logs was dedicated to St. Louis, Bishop of Tolosa in 1772, and was the first mission to use tiles extensively on the roof due to repeated attacks by Indians who used flaming arrows to ignite the original thatched roof. The mission underwent an extensive restoration program in the 1930's and today welcomes visitors to its nearly-original condition.