🔔 Mission San Rafael for kids

See that little white church with the bell? That's Mission San Rafael. It was built more than two hundred years ago. Here's the reason it was built here.

Across the bay in San Francisco, it was foggy and cold, and lots of people were getting sick. But here in San Rafael, it was warm and sunny. So the mission was made like a hospital, a place for sick people to rest in the sunshine and feel better. The Coast Miwok people, whose families had lived here for thousands of years, were brought to live and work at the mission.

It was a really hard time for them, and many got sick. Today, the Coast Miwok are still here, and they tell their own stories about this place. Listen! When the mission bell rings, it's the same kind of sound people heard way back then.