La Misión de María Santísima, Nuestra Señora de la Soledad is located in the Salinas Valley near Soledad, California. Founded in 1791 by Father Fermin Lasuen, Mission Soledad is the thirteenth mission to be founded in California. It is nestled in the heart of the wine country known as the Santa Lucia Highlands and there are three wineries within two miles of the mission. Los Padres National Forest is to the south of the mission and the Pinnacles National Monument is to the east. Monterey Bay is fifty minutes to the northwest. Excerpt from Mission Website.

The city of Soledad was established by Catalina Manzaneli de Munrás in 1873. She named the township Soledad in honor of the brave padres who had founded the mission across the river. The mission was named honoring Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (Our Lady of Solitude). The town was incorporated May 9, 1921.

The Soledad Library was established on March 8, 1915, and the current library was opened in 1999 next to the new Soledad Unified School District High School on Gabilan Street. Excerpt and picture from website

Adjacent to the Community Center is the Soledad Swimming Pool and Rotary Park, owned and operated by the Soledad-Mission Recreation District.

The Soledad Mission Recreation District also provides recreation programs to our community including a swim team, swimming lessons, water aerobics, lifeguard training, girl’s softball, adult co-ed softball, junior tennis, 5k/10k runs, day camps and day trips.

The Parks and Recreation Division maintains thirteen parks totaling 25 acres, as well as two lineal miles of roadway landscaping totaling approximately 2.5 acres. Responsibilities include daily grounds cleanup, grounds and facility improvement, repair of playgrounds and amenities, graffiti removal, mowing, pruning, fertilizing, weeding and spraying.
There are approximately 65 acres dedicated for open space and recreational uses within the City of Soledad divided between thirteen public parks, including a portion of land located next to the Salinas River. Excerpt and picture from website.

Some 23 million years ago multiple volcanoes erupted, flowed, and slid to form what would become Pinnacles National Park. What remains is a unique landscape. Travelers journey through chaparral, oak woodlands, and canyon bottoms. Hikers enter rare talus caves and emerge to towering rock spires teeming with life: prairie and peregrine falcons, golden eagles, and the inspiring California condor. Excerpt and picture from website.