A couple of times a year Tumacácori opens at 6 am, three hours earlier than regular hours. Yesterday was one of those days and I lay awake at 5, debating whether or not I wanted to go out in the cold, but I exhibited some backbone and hauled myself out of bed. It was 42° when I headed down the road.
There was one other hardy soul when the door opened at 6 but not long after, other photographers showed up.
One of the jobs I've been asked to do here is cull, name, and move photos into one spot. My favorites are always the historic ones, typically in black and white. This is mine but it looks very similar to those.
The first photos, from when it was still dark, just didn't turn out so what I have here is from when the sun was teasing the horizon and when it finally broke over.
Behind the church is a walled cemetery and a mortuary. Straight ahead of the gate is the opening to the mortuary. It still needed a domed ceiling and additional plastering when the mission was abandoned. Holes for scaffolding remain in the wall.
The cemetery was laid out by the missionaries as a holy ground where their growing numbers of converts could be buried. After the priests left, treasure hunters vandalized the graves and cattle were corralled here. No markers of the early graves remain.
Nearby residents continued to consider this sanctified ground, and when peace came to the valley, once again buried their dead in this ground.
The mortuary is on the left, the sacristy of the church on the right, and the Santa Rita Mountains in the distance.
The last burial was of the infant Juanita Alegria in 1916; her grave is still decorated. Among the photos I've been working on are a few of her grave being painted with turquoise paint but that was some time ago.
Niches in the wall held the stations of the cross, lost to time.
These next two are from the storeroom that stands to the east of the cemetery. It held the surplus grain and crops from the mission garden and orchard.
Urns rest safely in depressions in the bench
A full moon appeared to hover over the dome that rises above the sanctuary of the church.
The sun finally broke over the Santa Ritas to light the mountains to the west, but was not yet high enough to illuminate the church.
This is a longer view of the church, still not yet lit by the sun.
An even longer view now that the sun has risen. The gate in the wall of the cementerio is to the right of the church. The storeroom is at the far right, and a sliver of the mortuary can be seen between them.
Three painters arrived and had their easels set up as the sun burnished the adobe and brick.
A final view of golden light and Arizona blue sky.
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Thought of the day:
Carpe diem!
