This weathered bell is a early twentieth-century replica of a mission bell guidepost that once marked the original route of the El Camino Real, The King’s Highway, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These bells gave travelers the distance to the next town and directions to the missions. Originally a footpath traveled by the Franciscan missionaries, El Camino Real reached from San Diego to Sonoma, connecting California’s 21 missions. Over time, the small footpath evolved into a busy road wide enough to accommodate horses and wagons, and is considered to be the ﬁrst roadway in the state. Today, large portions of Highway 101 follow the original route of El Camino Real.