The town of Balmorhea serves as a gateway to the nearby Balmorhea State Park and the ghost town of Calera. Calera Chapel, better known as Mission Mary, is all that remains of this small community. This small adobe chapel was built by the people of Calera, consisting of mostly Hispanic families, many of whom farmed surrounding land or worked in the nearby Calera pits, in 1902, for Father Nicolas Brocardus. Father Nicolas was a thirty-four year old Dutch priest who traveled the region performing services including baptisms and marriages. Grateful for his services, the Calera community built Father Brocardus a chapel from rock and adobe, a tiny structure that provided religious support for Calera residents until the early 1940s. Unable to sustain a congregation, the chapel fell into disuse. But in 2002 the Calera Foundation, a non-profit organization with a mission to restore the historic structure, began renovations on the abandoned chapel, culminating in a dedication in May of 2003. Today, the chapel once again serves the surrounding community, open to the public for visits, prayer, retreats, and ceremonies.