Mission San Juan Bautista

Mission San Juan Bautista has served mass daily since 1797, and today functions as a parish church of the Diocese of Monterey.

Ranching and farming activity had moved apace, with 1,036 cattle, 4,600 sheep, 22 swine, 540 horses and 8 mules counted that year.

The town of San Juan Bautista, which grew up around the mission, expanded rapidly during the California Gold Rush and continues to be a thriving community today.

An unpaved stretch of the original El Camino Real, just east of the mission, lies on a fault scarp.

Associate producer Herbert Coleman's daughter Judy Lanini suggested the mission to Hitchcock as a filming location.

The church chancel with Easter decoration
A photograph of Mission San Juan Bautista taken between 1880 and 1910. The steeple (far right), constructed after the mission was secularized, was subsequently destroyed in a fire.
Aerial view of Mission San Juan Bautista
Entrance Bell