On the Way to Church Traditional Geocache
West Texas Reviewer: No response from owner. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact me (by email), and assuming it meets the current guidelines, I'll be happy to unarchive it.
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(small)
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While heading out to a fire with my husband, we passed a small church it was very dark so i wasn't able to really see it. We finally got a chance to come back to this quaint little chapel. I was instantly drawn into the history of this small building. So we decided to place a cache near the mission. Mission Mary Calera Chapel is open to the public so feel free to stop in and enjoy the history and beauty of the Chapel.
Written records for Mission Mary began in 1902, when a thirty four year old priest from the Netherlands started recording baptisms and marriages. Father Nicolas Brocardus arrived in the United States in 1892 and started serving the Big Bend in 1897. At first Father Brocardus rode the circuit on horseback or in a buggy, later in a Ford Model T. Father Brocardus made his rounds about once a month , at that time baptisms and marriages were performed.
Like all growing communities Calera residents eventually decided that they needed a church building, the structure was made of adobe and rock. Although the community was financially poor they banded together to construct the adobe structure( see Lupe Renteria's Story). This original building served the community until the late1930s or early 1940s when the diocese that was building a new church in Brogado plastered the original adobe building. Since Calera never grew into a large community it remained a mission first served by Father Brocardus from Saint Josephs Parish in Fort Davis. Later responsibility for Mission Mary fell on the priest from Brogado. Mission Mary was eventually abandoned and only the Church at Brogado remained.
After being abandoned the building became occupied by bats, cows, horses and other creatures. In 2002 Calera Foundation was formed to restore Mission Mary.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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