History of Carmel-by-the-Sea

who sailed up the California coast without landing. Another sixty years passed before another Spanish explorer and Carmelite friar Sebastián Vizcaíno discovered for Spain what is now known as Carmel Valley in 1602, which he named for his patron saint, Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until 1770, when Gaspar de Portolà, along with Franciscan Fathers, Junípero Serra and Juan Crespí visited the area in search of a mission site. Portolà and Crespí traveled by land while Serra traveled with the Mission supplies aboard ship, arriving 8 days later. The colony of Monterey was established at the same time as the second mission in Alta California and soon became the capital of California until 1849. From the late 18th through the early 19th century most of the Ohlone population died out from European diseases (against which they had no immunity), as well as overwork and malnutrition at the missions where the Spanish forced them to live. When Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821 Carmel became Mexican territory.

Mission San Carlos and Father Serra

The Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo was founded on June 3, 1770 in the nearby settlement of Monterey, but was relocated to Carmel by Father Junípero Serra due to the interaction between soldiers stationed at the nearby Presidio and the native Indians.

In December 1771, the transfer was complete as the new stockade of approximately 130x200 became the new Mission Carmel. Simple buildings of plastered mud were the first church and dwellings until a more sturdy structure was built of wood from nearby pine and cypress trees to last through the seasonal rains. This too was only a temporary church until a permanent stone edifice