Sketch of Third Mission Site, 1851. Drawn by Henry L. Walsh, S.J.
Closer view of sketch
Sketch of a portion of SCU's campus near the Mission Church, ~1851
Print of sketch by artist Henry Miller from his book, "Account of a Town of the California Missions," 1856. Features the walled cemetery.
Originally, the land next to the Mission Church was used as an Indian burial ground. What is now known as the rose garden was once one of the Santa Clara Mission cemeteries. During the colonial period, each mission in California typically had an area used as a cemetery for the people who passed away there; usually directly adjacent to the Mission Church. This cemetery would likely have been in use from 1820-1856. It holds the remains of many Native American people, some other settlers of the pueblo of San José who traveled from Mexico, and others passing through this region. Out of respect for the people buried there, today it is closed to the public.
When Father Nobili first arrived at Santa Clara in 1851, he described it as “wretched,” as it was plundered and reduced to the condition of a big stable. The mission church, baptistry, cemetery, priest’s house, mission quadrangle, vineyard, and Native dwellings were all present at his arrival but many were out of repair and some were either sold, given away, or completely ruined. Swindlers and squatters had plundered the area. The only properties that were Nobili’s were the mission church, the small cemetery adjoining in the far north, and part of a wing of rooms to the south, which had served in the days of the mission as the friars’ residence.
