Tumacácori: Arizona's Hidden Mission Gem
Located about an hour south of Tucson is a gem of a national park that many people have not heard about. Tumacácori National Historical Park takes you back in time to the late 1600s when Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries were traveling north from Mexico to bring European values and farming techniques to indigenous people of the area (O’odham, Yaqui, and Apache).
The building of the mission was started with mud bricks, which you can see from the outside are slowly melting and require constant care and attention. Later methods brought adobo bricks, which is what most of the belfry and some of the external buildings are made of.
Within the mission itself you see artist renderings of what historians believe the mission looked like at the height of prosperity. This place is one of peace and refuge. It was really neat exploring the grounds and trying to understand how the people lived and farmed this area that otherwise seems remote and arid.
The park does a wonderful job relaying information about the site through its park video and FREE guided tours (highly suggested!).
