Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California
by Edward W. Vernon
Category: Architecture

Few Americans realize that the missions of Baja California predate the Alta California missions by over 70 years, and are the first links in a chain that spanned the Spanish Californias from Cabo San Lucas to San Francisco. Las Misiones Antiguas is a photographic and written record describing the location, history, and present condition of all the sites of the little-known missions of Baja California. Every peninsular mission and several visitas were visited by the author and his companions, and the positions of each site was recorded using a GPS instrument. In addition to photographing each site, oral history was taken from the area's residents. Sketches record the configuration of sites not previously mapped, and in the case of the largest Baja California mission, Comondu, the foundation was traced and old photographs utilized to computer-generate three-dimensional architectural drawings. More than 300 illustrations, including historic photographs, maps, and the history and major events at the missions make this book the most complete contemporary source of information on these intriguing and rapidly disappearing remnants of Mexican and American culture.