A Short History of Sonoma

Epilogue

149 Epilogue the valley of the moon Sonoma is home to a fascinating mixture of multigenerational families and brand-new residents. Small as it is—the population hovers around 14,000—Sonoma offers everything that modern living requires, and augments that with the visible remnants and intangible benefits of its long history. During the 1960s, Mission San Francisco Solano, the former Mexican barracks, the Toscano Hotel, the Blue Wing Inn, the two-story servants ’ quarters from the old Casa Grande (called Casa de Criados), and Vallejo’s Lachryma Montis all became part of the Sonoma State Historic Park. Archaeological work at the various sites over the past forty years has given historians new insight into the city’s past. In 1999, for example, more than 150 years of Native American anonymity was rectified when members of the Coast Miwok, Patwin, Wappo, and Pomo tribes placed an elegant monument outside the west facade of the mission. Carved into granite are the names of nearly one thousand Indians who were buried on the property without markers and without memory. Exhaustive research into mission records revealed hundreds of names of the dead, which now live forever in stone. Only first names are used—those given to the converts by the padres—and they are listed chronologically by the year of their death. For example, between 1824 and 1839 the dead included the child Franca 150 a s h o r t h i s t o r y o f s o n o m a The former railroad station is now the Sonoma Valley Historical Society’s Depot Museum. Courtesy Sonoma Valley Historical Society. Used by permission. Solana, the adults Capistrano and Olimpia, and another child named Exutino. Though long overdue, the monument is a poignant reminder of the city’s First Peoples. Many of the structures that ring the Plaza, and those that surround it throughout the valley, serve a very different purpose than their builders originally intended—the sign of a healthy and thriving city. The former train depot, moved away from the Plaza in 1890, now houses the Sonoma Valley Historical Society, in the appropriately named Depot Park. The former Carnegie library is now the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, and restaurants now live where general stores used to be. The wine industry, dating back more than 150 years, is part of Sonoma’s lure, and it continues to grow. This long and sophisticated involvement in food and wine culture led to the city’s early adoption of the concept of using local foods and sustainable agriculture, known as “slow food.” The commitment to sustainability brought Sonoma a great honor in 2009: Cittaslow International, the organization that advocates for the slow food movement, named Sonoma the first Cittaslow city in the United States. Jack London’s books still thrill readers today, and the California State Park established in 1960 at what is now called his “Beauty Ranch” sees e p i l o g u e 151 thousands of visitors every year. The cottage where he died, filled with the artifacts of the Snark voyage, the stone Pig Palace, and Charmian’s House of Happy Walls illuminate the lives of the couple who could have lived anywhere. London once wrote that Sonoma was a “golden land,” and nearly two centuries after its founding, it has not lost its shine. Here in the Valley of the Moon, soldiers, writers, farmers, moviemakers, entrepreneurs, and urbanites alike have realized, and continue to realize, their California dream. ...