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Free Traveling Guides » States » California » Wine Country
Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma
Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma is located in the Sonoma State Historical Park in Sonoma Valley wine area. It is 20 miles north of San Francisco on State Highway 12.
The Mission was founded in July 1823 by Padre Jose Altimira and was named after a missionary sent to Peru in the 17th century, St Francis Solano. Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma was the last and the northernmost of the 21 missions founded in California. The initial Mission building was a temporary wooden structure which was whitewashed with mud. The construction of the Mission began in October 1823 and the Indians helped to construct a wooden chapel by tying logs together with leather ropes. In April 1824, the chapel was dedicated and had its first baptism. It was only after this that the adobe buildings of Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma started taking shape.
However, Father Altimira resorted to flogging and imprisonment of Native Americans to civilize them and this lead to an attack by angry Native Americans in 1826. The Mission was looted and building and supplies were burned. Father Altimira had to flee the Mission.
Father Buenaventura Fortuni, an aging priest, replaced Father Altimira and he led the construction of Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma. He led the construction of the main buildings of the Mission and built an adobe church on one end and a storehouse at the other. The Mission had orchards, vineyards, gristmill, houses for soldiers, a jail, a cemetery and an infirmary. Under Father Buenaventura Fortuni, Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma became a prosperous self-supporting mission.
However, in the late 1830s, the Mission started to decline and gradually the original adobe chapel was reduced to rubble. After 1881, the chapel and its adjoining building were used many times as a barn, winery, hennery and blacksmith shop.
In 1909, the restoration of the Mission began and in 1913 the adobe buildings were reconstructed to become a museum of Sonoma history. In 1940s the chapel and priest’s home were reconstructed as per original lines and finally devoted to preserving the Mission history.
Today Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma with its adobe parish church and convent is located in the 36.17 acres of Sonoma State Historic Park. What you can see today is mainly represents the restoration that took place in 1913. This restoration was done to repair the damage from the earthquake in 1906 and it just showcases a small part of the original complex.
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