After sampling some wonderful wines in Paso Robles region, we headed to Sonoma wine country. Our first stop was the Visitor’s Center for some suggestions for a hotel. The employee was very helpful and suggested that since we like history, we check out the Mission San Francisco Solana on the tiwn square. Even though we had a wonderful tour of the La Purisima Mission, we thoroughly enjoyed learning about this mission specifically and adding to our general knowledge of California missions. The original plan was for the missions to be operated by the Catholic Church for 10 years to convert and educate the Native people and have them become citizens and increase the Spanish-Mexian population to strengthen Spain’s colonization of California. The local natives resisted these attempts. The Mission San Francisco Solano was “the last and northernmost of the 21 California missions.” After 11 years, the mission was turned over to the local government.
The mission is part of Sonoma State Historic Park. It was founded in July 1823. The original church collapsed and was rebuilt in 1841. It was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. It was “restored through the dedicated efforts of groups like The Historic Landmarks League”.
The restored mission included the continuous building contaning the church, dining room, bell room, and priests quarters. The courtyard had a fountain, oven, brick cooking stove, large cauldron for candle making, restored plants, olive trees, and a prickly pear cactus which is over 100 years.
After our tour of the mission and military barracks (across the street), it was time for dinner and then to head to our lodging for the night. (Wine tasting would have to wait for another day.) We are Benziger Wine club members and have been coming here for years. We always drive past the Jack London Lodge. We decided to stay there this time. It’s another little oasis with lovely grounds and comfy rooms. It’s 0.5 miles from the winery and 1 mile from Jack London State Park- another must when we come here. More of that tomorrow. It’s time to tuck into bed after a fun day.