California missions spotlight: Notorious mass murder at Mission San Miguel Arcángel claimed 10 lives
San Miguel Arcángel, San Miguel
16th mission
1797
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Step inside and look closely at these walls and ceilings. Historians say this is the only California mission with its original interior paint — boldly colorful designs that were probably applied before 1821 by Native Americans under direction of an artist from Monterey, Calif. Those designs survived a major 2003 earthquake, which prompted years of reconstruction and retrofitting. As you browse the rooms of the museum, keep an eye out for men in brown robes: The Franciscans are still in residence. Also, you may or may not want to think back to December 1848, when the Reed family was living here. One night a band of men, intending to rob the Reeds, killed the entire family and household staff — at least 10 people, perhaps more. This was the most notorious multiple-murder case of its day. After a chase by a posse and a face-off on a hilltop in the Summerland area east of Santa Barbara, two of the killers died trying to avoid arrest and three were executed by firing squad. In later years, by many accounts, part of the area where the Reeds lived became a saloon.
Nearby: San Miguel, just outside Paso Robles, has long been known as a gritty, working-class town. The nearby Rios-Caledonia Adobe (a former home, inn, tavern and stagecoach stop built about 1835) is at 700 S. Mission St. It features a museum and gift shop open Fridays to Sundays; www.rios-caledoniaadobe.org. About eight miles south of San Miguel is Paso Robles, where a pleasant central park is lined by upscale restaurants serving wine from local vineyards.
Info: 801 Mission St., San Miguel; (805) 467-3256, www.missionsanmiguel.org. Driving distance from Los Angeles City Hall: 214 miles northwest.
From the archives:
In 1950, The Times covered a Franciscan restoration of Mission San Miguel making it a pleasant road-trip destination.
In 2004, The Times wrote about how a 2003 quake damaged the San Miguel mission.
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