It was in early 1797 when the Spaniards decided to build the fifteenth mission, San Juan Bautista. At this time it was like a race. The Spaniards were building missions all over the California coast to keep the Russians from conquering the land.

While we're talking about land, let me tell you where Mission San Juan Bautista is located. It was built about 90 miles south of San Francisco and about 35 miles northeast of Monterey Bay. It is nestled in a sunny valley of beautiful oak trees. All of the missions, including San Juan Bautista, were built in a strip along the coast. They were close together, so you could travel to the next mission in one day's journey.

At this time the Spanish explorers didn't know their way around California very well, and didn't know they were building this mission right dead center on the San Andreas fault. Of course, the closer you are to the fault line, the more shake you get when an earthquake hits. Imagine sitting on it! The earthquake in 1906, unfortunately, destroyed the mission. It was rebuilt, and now the church is the largest out of all twenty-one missions. Its walls are three layers thick. 

The mission was built on thirty-six acres of land. Having thirty-six acres of land for one mission sure is a lot of land! Mission San Juan Bautista had pear and apple orchards and many herds of animals. From the beginning the mission was used for farming and is still used for farming today. In the early years it was also a center for trading. Animal skins and animal fat, which was used to make candles and soap, were traded with the ships that came into the Monterey bay harbor.

This mission was founded by Father Fermin Lasuen, and was named in honor of St. John the Baptist. It's nickname, though, is the "mission of music." Back in 1815, Father Esteban Tapis came to San Juan Bautista. Father Tapis was a very creative music instructor who loved music. He taught the children to learn their prayers through songs, and taught them how to read music, too. But Father Tapis didn't stop there. He also formed a boys' choir that was one of the best in California. He arranged the music and color-coded each note so the members of the choir could follow their parts and sing in harmony. Not only did the boys sing tremendously well; they also played violins and drums. Father Tapis is buried in the Church sanctuary, and two of his choir books can be seen in the mission's museum.

Even though mission San Juan Bautista is very old, you can still visit it today. Half of the original mission is used for hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and businesses. You can take a tour of the church and visit the mission's museum, which has tons of information, pictures and sculptures.