El Camino Real (California)

El Camino Real in California is a long road that stretches about 600 miles, or 965 kilometers. It connects 21 important places called missions built by Spanish people long ago, from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego all the way north to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma. Along the way, it also passes by smaller mission sites, four military forts called presidios, and three towns known as pueblos.

This road is named after older paths used by people in New Spain, which was a Spanish area that included parts of Mexico and the southwestern United States. Back when Spain ruled California, there wasn’t one special road built just for the missions. Instead, the paths followed old routes used by Native American traders. The name El Camino Real, meaning “The Royal Road” or “The King’s Highway,” was brought back to life in the early 1900s when people in America were excited about the Mission Revival movement.

Today, many streets in California still carry the name El Camino Real. These roads have been improved over time and are marked with special bells to remember their history. The route officially starts near the Mexican border and ends in Sonoma, following many different roads including Interstate 5 and State Route 12.

Spanish and Mexican era

Long ago, roads called caminos reales were used by the Spanish government to connect important places in their colonies, including New Spain. Before missions were built in what is now California, there were already missions in places like Las Californias and Baja California, Mexico.

In 1769, a group of explorers called the Portolá expedition, led by Franciscan missionaries, started building missions along the coast of California. They began at San Diego and moved north. Sometimes they had to go inland because the coast was too rocky. Later, another explorer named Juan Bautista de Anza found easier paths through valleys away from the coast.

Missionaries from the Jesuit and Franciscan orders set up many religious places from Baja California to California between 1683 and 1835. Big trips were usually done by ship along the coast, not by land. Some stories say the missions were placed about 30 miles apart for travel, but this isn’t true—they were spaced unevenly. Another story says priests dropped mustard seeds to mark the trail with yellow flowers, but this isn’t proven either.

American era

In the middle of the 1800s, when California became a state, the old road needed improvement for big carriages and wagons. In 1892, a woman named Anna Pitcher from Pasadena, California started a project to make the road special. By 1906, they placed special bells along the road to remind people of its history. These bells were placed on tall wooden sticks and became a symbol of the old missions.

Later, maps were made to help drivers follow the route. Over time, many of the bells were lost or stolen. In 1996, workers started restoring the bells, and by 2005, they had put up 555 new ones. Some Native American groups felt the bells reminded them of sad times in their history, and in 2019, one bell was taken down from a university. This showed that the road has deep meanings for different people.

Modern highway and street routes

Several modern highways include parts of the commemorative route, though many sections are on city streets (for instance, most of the stretch between San Jose and San Francisco).

Some older local roads that parallel these routes also have the name. Mission Street in San Francisco does correspond to the commemorative route. An unpaved stretch of the old road has been preserved just east of Mission San Juan Bautista; this section of road runs parallel to the San Andreas Fault, which can be clearly seen where the ground drops several feet. Many streets throughout California bear the name of the road, often with scant relation to the original.

A section of the old mission road, El Camino Real fronts the Rios-Caledonia Adobe in San Miguel. This road served stagecoaches and then was paved as part of the original US 101 highway.

The route through the San Mateo and Santa Clara counties is designated as State Route 82, and some stretches of it are named El Camino Real. The old road is part of the de Anza route, located a few miles west of Route 101.

Historic designations

El Camino Real is a special road recognized as California Historical Landmark number 784. There are two important signs along the road that tell its history. One sign is close to Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego, and the other is near Mission San Francisco de Asís in San Francisco. These signs help people learn about the past of this important road.