San Juan Capistrano, California

San Juan Capistrano grew up around one of the most storied of California's twenty-one Franciscan missions. Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded on November first, seventeen seventy-six, by Father Junipero Serra himself, making it the seventh in the chain. The Great Stone Church built here in the early eighteen hundreds was considered the most magnificent church in California until a massive earthquake on December eight, eighteen twelve, collapsed its roof during morning Mass and killed forty worshippers.

The ruins remain standing today. The mission became famous worldwide for the cliff swallows that return each spring from their wintering grounds in Argentina, a migration celebrated annually on Saint Joseph's Day. The city has preserved its historic core more carefully than almost any other Southern California city, with a downtown still centered on the mission plaza that Serra dedicated almost two and a half centuries ago.