Arizona – Tumacacori National Historic Park and Juan Bautista de Anza Historic Trail

While in southern Arizona, my kids and I visited the Tumacacori National Historic Park. The Historic Park is the location of where Spanish missions were constructed. The first missions were established in 1691. The mission at the site we were at was built in the 1750s.

While we were there, we started watching the video explaining the area. Immediately, a ranger came up to us. He asked us to come by him, and he was going to give us the information of the site. We did, and he proceeded to tell us that the Spanish were all very friendly, and the local populations were all very happy that they were there – that the missionaries were “saving” the indigenous people from sure starvation and by giving them religion. I stopped him there, and challenged him, basically saying that I didn’t think it went down that way. The kids and I moved on, but I was really disappointed with the ranger. I do not know if he was a volunteer or not, but his version of events went DIRECTLY against the museum displays and the printed materials that the NPS had put together. In all my visits to NPS properties, this had never happened before.

Regardless, after leaving the ranger, we walked around the property and down a path that was part of the Juan Bautista De Anza National Historic Trail. We went to the bank of the Santa Cruz River – there was very little water. The grounds of the mission were interesting, but the encounter with the ranger had bothered me. We didn’t stay very long.