Father Serra Shrine
Camino Del Monte and Alta Avenue, Carmel
When Carmel city officials spirited away artist Jo Mora’s Father Junipero Serra statue from its niche outside of Carmel Woods in 2020 to protect it from would-be vandals, it left a hole in Mora’s Serra Shrine, created in 1922. Sometime after Serra was in safekeeping, while no one was looking, someone surreptitiously hoisted a stand-in for Serra, a garden statue of Saint Francis, into the niche at the top of the shrine. The faux-Serra later disappeared, only to be replaced by another Francis statue. Carmel Woods Neighborhood Association President Mark McDonald says it’s a mystery how these statues appear and disappear. Divine intervention or human antics? Either way, it’s fun to ponder the mystery.