Cradled between the Mayacamas and Sonoma mountain ranges, the Sonoma Valley is the birthplace of California’s famed wine industry and the closest wine region to San Francisco, just 45 minutes north. It encompasses 17 miles of unparalleled beauty, including 13,000 acres of parkland. The eight-acre Sonoma Plaza is the largest town square of its kind in California and a National Historic Landmark, rimmed by carefully preserved adobe buildings. Up the road in Glen Ellen, author Jack London lived and wrote at his beloved Beauty Ranch, now an 800-acre state historic park.

“On the elevated sections of the road they felt the cool, delicious breeze from the Pacific forty miles away; while from each little dip and hollow came warm breaths of autumn earth, spicy with sunburnt grass and fallen leaves and passing flowers.”

Time Travel: A Quick History of the Sonoma Valley

Twelve Thousand Years of Paradise

Legend has it that the names Sonoma and “Valley of the Moon” are derived from an indigenous word for “many moons.” Today this notion is considered romantic. It is true, however, that indigenous people lived here for 12,000 years before the Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans arrived; and the name Sonoma may actually be derived, more prosaically, from “noma,” a Mayakmah word for town.

Gazing at the starry skies, modern-day visitors can see for themselves if the moon indeed rises and sets several times nightly over the eastern Mayacamas hills, as ancient travelers claimed. (Learn More)

The Mexican Mission

The Valley’s indigenous societies began to disappear with the arrival of European settlers in the early 19th century. During that time, Sonoma became home to the northernmost and last mission in the chain of 21 built in California by Father Junipero Serra and others of the Franciscan order. The Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma was the only one of the California missions to be established under Mexican rule, independent of Spain. But just 10 years after its completion in 1824, the mission was secularized by the newly independent Mexican government.

As leader of the outpost, Mexican General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo turned the mission into a Mexican pueblo, laid out the town square, and built the military barracks at its northeast corner, in the process amassing huge land holdings and great wealth.

Vallejo’s vision lives on. Visitors to Sonoma today can park their cars in the town center and walk more than 150 years back in time. The carefully preserved adobe buildings around the Sonoma Plaza include the mission, the barracks, Vallejo’s home, and other historic structures open for public tours. (Learn More)

The Bear Flag Republic

Although General Mariano Vallejo was sympathetic to American immigration into California, the Mexican government wanted the intruders expelled. Vallejo was caught in the middle of the quarrel and tried to ride it out as a neutral party, but as a Mexican officer he could not. He was arrested by a band of Americans acting on the probably spurious orders of Colonel John C. Fremont, as the initial act that founded the short-lived Bear Flag Republic in 1846.

After only 25 days, the republic became a territory of the United States, and Vallejo was released soon afterwards. He took an active part in the formation of the California government, helping to write the constitution and serving in the first state senate. Although he became rich and powerful, he was almost a pauper when he died in 1890, having lost much of his land to adverse court rulings and his wealth through the speculations of his American son-in-law.

Today visitors can stand on the site of the original Bear Flag raising, at the monument on the northeast corner of the Sonoma Plaza. They also can tour Vallejo’s final home, “Lachryma Montis,” on its 20-acre grounds just a few blocks west. (Learn More)
 

Recent History

For its first hundred years as part of the United States, the Sonoma Valley remained a quiet rustic area. Despite General Mariano Vallejo’s efforts, the town of Sonoma lost its place as the county seat, and the Gold Rush took the flow of business and trade to San Francisco.

Rich in agricultural heritage and recognized as the birthplace of California’s premium wine industry, Sonoma Valley is home to vineyards planted as early as 1824 by the mission’s Franciscan Fathers. The flourishing wine trade survived two great blows:  the phylloxera epidemic of the 1870s and the legal impact of Prohibition. After World War II, Sonoma Valley began to grow, but has remained isolated enough to keep its original beauty.

Today Sonoma Valley is a vigorous center of the California wine industry as well as a popular tourist destination. Visitors can sample local varietals at more than 40 premium wineries and tasting rooms. (Learn More)

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Photos  courtesy of  Depot Park  Museum