Walking Through Tumacácori National Historical Park

This is one of the smaller National Parks in Arizona that I, myself, have never heard of before living here. And once I did, I was determined to visit Tumacácori National Historical Park to add a new National Park passport stamp to my book. The funny thing is that I couldn’t even pronounce the name. When my friends and I arrived, the first ten minutes were spent saying the name over and over to see if we could get it right. To pronounce Tumacácori correctly, enunciate vowels as in Spanish with an emphasis on the second “a” (Too-muh-kä’-ko-ree). Here is everything you need to know about exploring Tumacácori National Historical Park.

Tumacácori National Historical Park History

In 1691, a Jesuit named Eusebio Kino arrived in the Santa Cruz River valley and founded what would become one of the oldest missions in the present-day United States. Tumacácori began as a modest adobe structure built in collaboration with the O’odham people, evolving into a larger Franciscan church by the early 1800s. However, it was never fully completed due to Apache resistance, political upheaval, and the general chaos of frontier life. The mission was abandoned in 1848, left to crumble slowly under the desert skies.

Today, Tumacácori National Historical Park isn’t polished, and that’s the point. The main church still bears the scars of its unfinished past, with raw adobe walls, hand-carved wooden beams, and flaking murals that have not been prettified for tourists. Rangers lead tortilla-making workshops under mesquite trees, descendants of the original mission communities return for feast days, and a centuries-old irrigation ditch still winds through the grounds. Tumacácori feels less like a monument and more like a place that never completely left the past behind.

How to Get to Tumacácori National Historical Park

Tumacácori National Historical Park is located in the upper Santa Cruz River valley of southern Arizona, 45 miles south of Tucson and 19 miles north of Nogales. It is off of I-19 at exit 29. The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except on Thanksgiving and December 25.

Visitor Center

Start your visit at the Visitor’s Center. After entering, look to the right to pay for your ticket. You must pay first to enter the park. Be forewarned that entrance tickets must be paid for by credit card. No cash allowed, except when buying gifts in the store. Another side note: If you have accessibility needs, please check with the visitor center, as you may be able to obtain an accessibility pass that grants access to all national parks.

The visitor center also features a museum, and a short film is available to watch before you begin your exploration of the grounds, providing helpful orientation. We skipped the film and instead chose to use the self-guiding walking tour maps that are available.

Courtyard Garden

The courtyard garden is located directly off the visitors’ center, on the right. I visited in the early springtime, so the flowers weren’t fully blooming yet. I can imagine that this area must be quite beautiful in full bloom. However, there were quite a lot of bees buzzing around the fountain. At the back of the courtyard, you can also locate the restrooms, if needed.

O’odham History

The Tumacácori National Historical Park encompasses three mission sites—San José de Tumacácori, Los Santos Ángeles de Guevavi, and San Cayetano de Calabazas—each reflecting different phases of Spanish colonial influence and Indigenous response. The park also maintains an uninterrupted cultural connection with the Tohono O’odham, Yaqui, and Apache communities, who lived, traded, and worshipped there.

The O’odham lived along the Santa Cruz River long before the mission church was built. The family clusters lived in dome-shaped brush houses. Their days consisted of farming the floodplain, hunting game, and harvesting wild plants. They were experts in locating mesquite, palo verde, agave, and cacti, which proved invaluable when the Spanish arrived between the late 16th and mid-19th centuries. The O’odham settled within the Tumacácori mission settlement and blended their culture and traditions with the Europeans. The Tumacácori mission evolved into more than just a church; it became a tightly planned community.

Annual events, such as the Anza Day celebration and Mission Fiesta, commemorate historical migration and religious observances, underscoring the site’s connection to both its colonial past and its living heritage. Visitors can also access a portion of the historic Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail directly from the park, offering a physical connection to the broader patterns of exploration and settlement in the American Southwest. The Anza Trail was established in 1990 as part of the National Trails System. In the U.S., the 1,200-mile trail connects Nogales, Arizona, to the San Francisco Bay Area. It also goes another 600 miles south within northern Mexico.

Mission San José de Tumacácori

The Mission San José de Tumacácori is a beautiful church even as it deteriorates. Back in the day, the front of the church was brightly painted with red columns and blue statue niches. There was a large plaza in front of the church, surrounded by adobe houses, which created a close-knit community of a few hundred people who attended Mass daily.

The church was built by creating a foundation of rocks that were carried from nearby hillsides. The walls were formed from mud adobes, and limestone was collected and baked to create the plaster that protected the structure from rain. They even hauled heavy pines from the Santa Rita Mountains, 30 miles away, to make the roof supports. It always amazes me how people built such magnificent structures hundreds of years ago, that are still here today without the use of modern-day machinery.

Bell Tower

Again, I’m astonished that this structure is still standing, but then I realize that the weather here in Arizona doesn’t fluctuate as much as in Michigan, so it could survive and thrive (check out the grass growing from the top). The bells were rung daily by pulling ropes that reached the ground. The scallop shell niches symbolize the patron saint of Spain, Santiago de Compostela. The holes in the bell tower were caused by scaffolding used to support the walls during the church’s construction, as the church was never fully completed.

Nave

Entering the church, you walk into a long hall, the nave. There were no pews or side chapels; instead, lining the walls were four altars where devotional candles could be placed. Statues of saints stood in the niches high above. The roof is newer because after the mission’s abandonment in 1848, it was removed and used for timber by local settlers. Within the church, I have placed a sketch of what the nave looked like when it was constructed, along with the current conditions to compare, then and now.

On the right side, after entering, is the Baptistry. The walls are nine feet thick with an inner rock core to support the massive bell tower directly above. The stairway within the Bapistry led to the choir loft, which was located above the front entrance doors (you can see me standing in that stairway at the end of the post). Additionally, take a look at the exquisitely designed large wooden doors – stunning!

Sanctuary

The sanctuary remains largely intact. Protected by a domed ceiling made of fired adobe, you can still see glimmers of the original paint, picture frames, and stenciling. During the Mass, a priest sang the words facing toward the altar, his back to the congregation. Scriptures were read from the pulpit and reconstructed on the nearby wall to the right.

To continue the self-guided tour, walk through the sanctuary to the sacristy. There isn’t much left to see in here except the stairway to the pulpit. There is a small, grated-mesh window that allows you to see out toward the cemetery. Continue outside and turn left toward the cemetery.

Cemetery

The cemetery doesn’t appear to be very large. However, the records indicate that nearly 600 burials took place here between 1755 and 1825. The notches in the wall would have held sculptures of the Catholic Stations of the Cross, and the large round building was the mortuary chapel. There were many simple wooden crosses, but I loved seeing the intricate, wrought-iron cross.

Priest’s Quarters

The priest’s quarters consisted of two large, open areas. The first area was the greeting area, and the second was their personal quarters, including a stove.

Melhok Ki

This Melhok Ki (moo-ro kee) is a modern reconstruction of a traditional O’odham dwelling. At first, we thought it was where they housed the horses or animals. However, this dwelling made of mesquite timbers, saguaro ribs, ocotillo sticks, and mud was a home. This actual dwelling was built in 1997 by O’odham from the San Xavier community using traditional hand tools. The shade ramada, or wa:ato (WAH-ah-tow), would be attached to the front of the dwelling, and there would be an additional brush enclosure for cooking.

Cooking Ramada

In the center plaza, you can watch authentic Mexican food being made in traditional ways. She used smoked mesquite to make tortillas for us to try. This booth offers a unique experience with flavors such as chiles, carne asada, and handmade tortillas that reflect Mexico’s mestizaje. Not surprisingly, when I was younger, I would have never tried Mexican food. I was a bland food eater, that is, until I started traveling. Now I can proudly say that my food choices have become more diverse. The tortilla was quite yummy and just what we needed after walking around in the bright Arizona sun all morning.

Summary

Here I am, exploring another gem of Southeast Arizona with my camera in hand. I haven’t been traveling as much as I would like to, but when I do, I make the most of it. I hope you get a chance to visit this area of Arizona, as there are many other smaller National Parks, such as Coronado National Memorial, to explore besides the Grand Canyon. And if you drive through Sierra Vista, stop in and say Hi!

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Further Reading

If you are exploring Arizona, check out these posts for extra travel inspiration:

• Welcome to the Apache Trail Historic Road – Top 8 Must-See Sites
• Tlaquepaque – The Creative Art and Soul of Sedona
• Montezuma Castle – “It’s not a castle, and Montezuma was never here.”
• Finding a Peaceful Sanctuary at the Our Lady of the Sierras Shrine
• Arizona Border Town: What is it like to live by and visit Naco, Mexico?
• Tour Monument Valley: Photo Essay of Sandstone Buttes and Mesas
• Experience the Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area
• Top 12 Things to Do in Tombstone – Experience the Wild West
• Eco-Adventure Awaits: Top Tips for Your Biosphere 2 Visit