God’s Acres Cemetery
ClassificationsPhotographs
Subject
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Dateearly 20th century
Place DepictedSan Juan Capistrano, California, United States, North America
MediumPhotographic print
Credit LineTerry E. Stephenson Collection
Object number6732
DescriptionThis photograph from the early 20th century depicts Mission San Juan Capistrano’s God’s Acres cemetery. The earliest source of western cemeteries in California came following 1769 with the creation of our state’s missions. Every mission had at least a small graveyard where friars and others associated with the mission would be buried. The Bowers Museum has a large collection of photographs of the missions, and as a result, their graveyards. many of the individual plots are fenced which was a way to keep both people and livestock from disturbing one’s eternal rest and to ensure it remained easy to find should nature take the marker itself.On View
Not on view
1776-1831
