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Mission San Francisco Solano
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6 reviews for Mission San Francisco Solano
I'm somewhat of a history freak. I tend to do better in history and humanities than I do in the sciences and math. With that being said, I really enjoyed visiting the Mission Solano in Sonoma during my short overnight trip to Sonoma.
It is now a museum and is operated by the State Parks Commission. Visiting the Mission costs $2.00 per person. You get entrance into the Mission, as well as the Military Fort and Barracks and Mayor/General Vallejo's home that are all within walking distance. 2 bucks a person and three historic museums, this couldn't have been a better money well spent location.
This particular this Mission is the last and Northern most Mission in California, so along with great information, there was great history of California itself.
Overall, this Mission Solano in Sonoma was definitely one of the beautiful highlights to my short Wine Country trip.
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#2 on my Oct 2009 Mission trail, visited on the 12th. Another total reconstruction, but very well done, spartan befitting its "remote" northern outpost status. Not an active church, part of the Sonoma Historic Park complex. Despite it's spartan-ness, it's odd to see a nave with no pews. The Jorgensen watercolors are a highlight. Courtyard is excellent to imagine what mission life may have been like. Visit early enough to re-use your admission stub, good for the Sonoma Barracks across the street (where the gift shop is - some cool t-shirts!) and Gen. Vallejo's home a mile west.
http://www.flickr.com/...
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Part one of three-
We came here for my Daughter's mission project. The park Rangers were very helpful; One of them asked if my Daughter was in fourth grade (She is) and gave us some of the brochures they usually sell for free. The mission is well kept and is a great piece of California history that is definitely worth a stop if you're in the area.
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The California missions trail ends here... in Sonoma. The St. Francis Solano mission is more reminiscent of the rustic missions in New Mexico (like San Miguel in Santa Fe, San Jose in Las Trampas) than the stylish Californian ones. Its original site is now Cline Cellars (with the California Missions Museum)
St. Francis Solano has some fascinating facts. As a historical destination, it's worth it. The Sonoma Plaza, its adobe, and the accompanying mission bear an eerie resemblance to that of Santa Fe, the oldest capital in the United States. While the missions in Santa Fe were built by the Spanish conquistadors, St. Francis Solano is the sole mission in the US built by the Mexicans.
It's at the end of the trail, as well as the beginning of California statehood.
A great, educational destination!
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Nice mission, the northernmost and most recent of those created, first built in 1823. It seems entirely incongruous to have an old Spanish mission smack dab in the center of an Sonoma, but it seems to work out well. State Park-owned missions are always a little more frustrating than church-run ones, as they are preserved more as sterile historical relics rather than vibrant, still extant centers of faith and community.
That said, San Francisco Solano is an accessible, pleasant little mission in Northern California, and a pleasant way to ends one's northernmost journey up the mission trail.
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Nice little mission and park. Kind of grumpy ranger, at least the day I was there. You can also get into the barracks, the Vallejo home and the old hotel down the street on the same $2 ticket. What always peeves me about these missions is that you don't know what is authentic and what is a recreation, and the state park people aren't especially forthcoming. From what I can tell, the original mission burned down in like the 1830s or something, was rebuilt, was damaged by the 1906 earthquake and was rebuilt again. One of the exhibits in the mission says that it was rebuilt by amateurs, not archaeologists, and they were just guessing what a mission might have looked like. So all that kind of spoils it for me. It's more Williamsburg than relic.
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