Old Mission Cemetery - Santa Barbara, CA - Churchyard Cemeteries on Waymarking.com

A walking tour of the Santa Barbara Mission grounds is available for a small fee. The tour includes a walk through the cemetery grounds inside the mission walls.

A sign in the cemetery says, "This mission cemetery was laid out in 1789 after the completion of the mission church. The first Chumash Indian buried here was Cristobal of Saspili. More than 4,000 Chumash Indians are buried in this cemetery. There are also tombs and mausoleums of early Spanish families and of later settlers who came to California."

Burials in the church after the very early period were restricted to priests and outstanding laymen associated with them. The first Franciscan to die in Santa Barbara was Fry Antonio Paterna. A native of Palma, near Seville, Spain, he came to America in 1749. After missionizing for twenty years in the Sierra Gorda of Mexico, he came to California where he labored successively at Missions San Diego, San Gabriel, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara beginning his ministrations at the latter place in 1786. He died on Feb 13, 1793.

Name of church or churchyard: Mission Santa Barbara Approximate Size: Large (100+)

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