NOTE: This cache is only available when the site is open to the public. Tuesday thru Saturday, from 8 AM to 4:30 PM. Closed Sunday and Monday. There is an entry fee of $5.00 a person for access to the state historic site.
One of a small series of regular geocaches at Mission Dolores State Historic Site, this one is right off the parking lot and a little bit into the treeline. In 1717, the original Mission Dolores (or by its long name, Mission Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Ais) was constructed half a mile from this location on Ayish Bayou by Father Antonio Margil de Jesus to Christianize and make Spanish citizens of the native Ais peoples, as well as to bolster Spanish territorial claims against the French, who were a short 70 miles to the east at Fort St. Jean Baptiste (present-day Natchitoches). The original location was abandoned 1719 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance, after the French captured the Spanish settlement of Pensacola, Florida. The mission was re-established at the present location of the state historic site in 1721 and lasted for 52 years until the Spanish abandoned the mission permanently in 1773. The Spanish goal of bringing Christianity to the Ais largely failed, but it succeeded in keeping the French from spreading any further west in the years that sites like Mission Dolores and Presidio Los Adaes were active.
And now for the cache itself. You are looking for a clear plastic ammo box that is big enough to hold a notebook and a few trackables. After you find it, consider heading in the museum to learn a little more about the history of the site. There's a 10 minute video intro and a handful of exhibits about the life of Mission Dolores.