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Two hundred and twenty-five years ago, Mission Santa Cruz was founded by Franciscan friars seeking to expand the reach of the Church to every available corner of Alta California. Too bad they built on the floodplain of the San Lorenzo River; two years later they had to rebuild "the hard luck mission" on the hilltop location we know today as Mission Hill.
Only one building from the Mission era still stands: the Santa Cruz Mission Adobe, originally constructed to house Indian laborers and christened a state park 25 years ago. Find out what we know about how the old adobe was built and the secrets about daily life it has given up through careful excavation at this anniversary year lecture, "The Santa Cruz Mission: Finding the Story in the Archaeology, Then and Now." Speakers will be archeologist Karen Hildebrand and Linda Hylkema of the Santa Clara University summer archeology project.
144 School St, Santa Cruz (park is also accessible via Mission Street staircase); 6:30-8:30pm; free. This event is outdoors, so bring a jacket.
