Mission San Antonio de Padua — Attraction in King City

Mission San Antonio de Padua de los Robles (Saint Anthony of Padua of the Oaks) was the 3rd mission founded by Father Junipero Serra in 1771, after Mission San Diego de Alcala (1st) and Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Carmelo (2nd).

Because the first site didn't have a stable water source, Mission San Antonio was moved in 1773 to the 'Valley of the Oaks' (now the Salinas Valley) near the San Miguel Creek. After building a dam, a three mile long brick aqueduct system and reservoir were built to provide a steady supply of water to the new Mission location.

The current church was completed in 1813. This became the first mission to use the distinctive red roof 'mission' tiles.

In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain and took possession of the lands of Alta California. It is estimated that the mission system controlled almost one sixth of this land. With the Mexican Secularization Act of 1933, most missions were sold in 1834. Because no town was located nearby, Mission San Antonio went unsold and eventually became neglected. In 1863, the mission ruins with 33 acres were returned to the Catholic Church by President Abraham Lincoln.

Restoration of Mission San Antonio began in 1903 but stopped after the destructive San Andreas earthquake of 1906. Further reconstruction occurred from 1948 to 1952. Required earthquake retrofitting continues to this day. Donations are greatly needed to continue these state-mandated costs for required earthquake retrofitting. Given that Mission San Antonio is not located near a large population of supporters, it also receives fewer visitors which makes its need unique.

Because the Mission has been protected by Ft Hunter-Liggett and the William Randolf Hearst Estate, it has kept the Mission grounds more true to its original times. Unfortunately, this same isolation has created other issues-- most notably, its need for a financial support base in its restoration and preservation needs. Please support Mission San Antonio.

If one is on a journey through CA’s historic times by visiting its series of 21 missions, I found Mission San Antonio to be one, if not its best. Although its location from Hwy 101 may be perceived as the most difficult to reach due to distance (about 45 minutes), it is well worth this little extra time.

Mission San Antonio also has the added bonus of being a retreat (individual or group) with one being able to make overnight reservations for solitude or devotion, or single day events...

This is a really great mission! I drove here with my father-in-law. And have always meant to come out. It's totally worth the drive! I came from down south. So you turn off the 101 before you get to King City and you drive up towards Jalon. The road is very scenic. And the mission is kind of in the middle of nowhere. At a army base. There were no guards or anyting. You could drive right there. The mission has a little gift shop. With a docent who will give tours if you want. And also has a wonderful. Museum set up in what was the rooms where people stayed. Apparently the mission is also a retreat center. And if you want to come on Retreat you can arrange to have your group stay there. Overnight in a bunch of rooms that they have set up for people to stay on retreat. The docent told me you do not have to be any particular denomination to use the retreat center. I can only imagine that this would be a lovely place to have a quiet couple days. The sanctuary is very nicely appointed. And a lovely place to come pray. I came on a weekday, but it looked like it is an active Parish. With services that happened here regularly. There doing a campaign to raise money. To fix up more of the facility So if you do go here I encourage you to be part of their fundraising campaign. We continued after driving to the mission to take the nacimiento fergusson road out to Highway 1. This is a great drive on a little windy but paved Road. If you want a big adventure that will take a while, then you might make it a road trip. Don't do it in a truck with a camper shell or anything like that. It's a pretty crazy and you will come down a pretty steep Cliff as you get...

In the early to mid seventies ther was a campground on site, in the orchard. My family lived there one summer while my dad worked up the hill at Fort Hunter Leggett. There was a young girl staying at the mission, my sisters and I had wonderful time exploring and learning about the history of the mission. My father and grandfather built a dam across the small creek that was there and all the children in the camp ground were able to have a swimming hole that summer. It was so sad to us when they tore it down and put everything to rights. We even survived a forest fire that ripped through that area . All the men in the campground either went to help fight it, or stayed and used the water from the damn to wet every thing in preparation of the fire coming our way. What a terrible but exciting day that was. They had Fiestas and celebrations there during the summer. I still have a set of rosary beads that I got there. Even though we were not catholic, to a child they were blue, and pretty and had powers. My sister still has a beautiful table clothe that she won in a game of post office there. The summer of 1972 was a magical...