Moca

Moca exists because the Moca tree (Andira inermis) grew abundantly here—a naming so literal that the municipality officially adopted the tree as its symbol on its bicentennial in 1972. But what defines Moca isn't the tree; it's what women did with thread and bobbins when agriculture failed.

Founded in 1772 by José de Quiñones, Moca followed the typical Puerto Rican pattern: coffee in the highlands, tobacco and sugar cane for export, labor systems tied to haciendas. The alluvial soils remain fertile. But when agricultural disruptions struck in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Moca developed an unusual survival mechanism: mundillo.

Mundillo is Puerto Rican bobbin lace—intricate, delicate patterns woven by hand on special cushions. The craft existed elsewhere, but Moca systematized it. Lace schools trained women; cottage industry replaced field labor; thread and bobbins provided income when coffee prices collapsed. By the early 20th century, Moca had earned the title 'La Capital del Mundillo.' The Museo del Mundillo, established in 2004, preserves the tradition that master artisans still practice.

US troops entered Moca on August 14, 1898, finding no resistance—the town's economy was already pivoting from export agriculture to craft production. Today, fruit farming and cattle ranching generate more revenue than lacemaking, but the identity persists. Moca is not a farming town that happens to make lace; it's a lace town that happens to farm. By 2026, the test is whether mundillo remains living craft or museum piece, and whether cottage industry logic can survive in an economy that rewards scale.