“The end of El Camino Real…”
The last two missions and the end of El Camino Real are located north of San Francisco Bay. The first, Mission San Rafael, was not actually a mission in the same sense as the others. It was originally established as an outreach of the Mission San Francisco as a result of the extremely high rates of illness and death amongst the Native American population. It was decided that establishing an outpost in the dryer, sunnier north shore area would provide a place for those who were ill to heal. Established in 1817 one large rectangular building was constructed that housed the infirmary, padres and storerooms. A quadrangle was never built. The mission was essentially “dissolved” during the 1834 takeover of the missions by the Mexican government and General Vallejo (who figures prominently in the history of this area) allegedly “stole” the mission lands and went so far as to even dig up the pear orchards and transplant them to lands that he had confiscated for his personal use in Sonoma.
Several small churches came and went in the next hundred years but no semblance of the original site remains. The town of San Rafael (also not particularly noteworthy in my opinion – now a mishmash of architectural styles and major suburbia) grew up around the mission site. In 1919 the wooden church on the site burned and the current parish church (left) was constructed. In 1949 a replica of the original church was built, though the design was based upon conjecture as no accurate records really exist of the original church. That’s about all I can say because (and this may be the most startling news of the visit!) the little museum is CLOSED on Saturdays so I couldn’t visit. What kind of museum is closed on Saturdays?
Leaving San Rafael I head northeast to the Sonoma valley, home to the last mission on the El Camino Real, Mission San Francisco Solano, located in the town of Sonoma. Sonoma, and the Sonoma valley, are immediately west of the Napa valley and are a significant part of the modern wine-based economy.
The Mission Solano was established in 1823 and was the last of the missions to be built. It also had the distinction of being the only mission built after Mexico had won its’ independence from Spain, and only existed for 11 years until the 1834 seizure of the missions by the Mexican government. Sonoma was the most powerful military installation north of Monterey Presidio, established not only to control and “civilize” the natives but also to block the expansion of the Russians, who had built Fort Ross about 65 miles northwest of Sonoma on the California coast in 1812. The original mission was constructed in the traditional quadrangle pattern with a small chapel at the southwest corner and a larger church on the south east corner, connected by a long, low adobe wing that served as quarters for the fathers. This is the façade that faces the street. General Vallejo, the last Mexican commander in the area, moved the seat of his power from Monterey to Sonoma and laid out the current plan for the town of Sonoma, centering on a large plaza at the southwest corner of the old mission grounds (the mission itself does not face the plaza, but it at the northeast corner). The mission itself quickly fell into disrepair, being cannibalized to provide building materials for other structures. In 1840 General Vallejo rebuilt the small chapel next to the fathers’ quarters and both of those structures remain today.
Visitors enter at the far right and walk through three interior display rooms prior to entering the chapel. This is not an active parish but is a state park, thus the lack of pews, etc., in the chapel.
West of the mission fronting the plaza General Vallejo constructed a large two-story military barracks that also remains virtually intact. Half of the lower floor has been reconstructed to look as it would have during use as a barracks. Some of the furnishings are original, others are replicas. After California won its’ independence from Mexico (raising the first “Bear Flag” and declaring an independent republic here in Sonoma Plaza), the barracks housed militia and then after California jointed the United States, housed military personnel.
The central plaza is a huge, grassy square that on this Saturday was being heavily used; picnics, readers, and people just sitting in the sun. In the middle of the plaza is the 1904 Sonoma City Hall.
This is the center of town and on all four sides are a mix of historical buildings (both in original and restored condition) housing a mixture of stores, restaurants and on the north side, the military barracks and historic Toscano Hotel.
Anchoring the north side of the plaza right to the west of the military barracks is the Toscano Hotel. Built in 1855 as the Hotel Eureka it was renamed in 1890 as the Toscano Hotel in an effort to attract the local Italian immigrants. An “L” shaped building, the short leg fronts the plaza. In the view from the rear, the kitchen wing is yellow and the front wing is white.
The first floor of the front building houses the bar and parlor, the first floor of the back building houses the dining room and kitchen. The original cast iron stove is so large that it had to be brought up river on a barge from Sacramento. Not all of the furnishings are original to the hotel, but are original to the period. The second floor of both wings housed the hotel rooms.
Sonoma is not near the freeway and is reached by narrow two-lane roads that were packed with people on this sunny Saturday afternoon enjoying a cruised through the countryside. Yeah! Leaving Sonoma, we headed east to Napa, the next stop as we leave the end of the El Camino Real and started heading north for home.
Next: The road home….
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