Tumacácori Mission - Orchard

Fruit trees carried great symbolic (as well as nutritional) value for the Spanish colonists.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Tumacácori mission grounds

Amenities

3 listed

Benches/Seating, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Picnic Table

The saguaro and organ pipe cactus, generally found at lower elevations, provided the O’odham an annual treat of sweet, juicy fruit. The saguaro harvest was celebrated with dancing, singing, and storytelling, and the making and drinking of saguaro wine, essential for the calling of the clouds that would bring the summer rains.  

The establishment of a mission brought new fruits, imported from Europe and considered essential to a “civilized” life by the priests and settlers. As farmers, the O’odham welcomed these new crops. Wheat, grown over the winter, provided a harvest during an otherwise lean season. Horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and chickens provided transportation, labor, fiber, and convenient sources of protein. 

The mission complex included a walled garden and orchard, the contents protected from deer and cattle. Native trees, including hackberries, now grow along the foundations of those adobe walls. Within the original 4.6 acre enclosure the community grew vegetables and fruit trees. Favorite trees brought from Europe included peach, pomegranate, quince, and fig. As recently as 1938, peach trees lined the mission acequia, stabilizing its banks and making use of moisture which seeped through its mud walls. 

The fruit trees that you see here today were grown from seeds and cuttings of old cultivar fruit trees—the oldest trees that could be found in historic orchards and yards throughout southern Arizona. The replanted orchard was dedicated in 2007.