Gentle Friends, last Thursday on the first day of our long weekend we headed north from the city across the Golden Gate Bridge into wine country. Our destination was to Sonoma then on to San Rafael - to visit the Missions ..... a little back information ... one of the things from my Bucket List to accomplish while still breathing is to visit them all and we've been to the Mission San Francisco de Asis here in the City quite a few times ... we arrived in Sonoma late morning....
The Mission SF Solano is the 21st and last Mission built and the northernmost Mission in Alta California. This Mission is also the only one built after Mexico gained independence from Spain.
Here's a little history I lifted from Wikipedia..."The mission buildings rapidly fell into disrepair. The town of Sonoma was growing and building materials were in great demand. Roof tiles, timbers and adobe bricks were salvaged from the mission buildings. After the settlers had cannibalized the old buildings, nature began recycling the remnants.[14]
In 1841, Mariano Vallejo ordered a small adobe chapel to be built on the location of the first wooden mission chapel. It became the church of the parish and replaced the large mission church which was rapidly deteriorating. It stood on the west end of the convento so is often thought to be the church of the old mission.[40]
During 1863 President Abraham Lincoln transferred ownership of all the mission churches in California to the Roman Catholic Church. In 1881, the Sonoma church property was sold to a local businessman and a new parish church was built across town. At one time, the old adobe chapel was used as a warehouse. The convento may have been used as a winery.[14]
In 1903, the two remaining mission buildings were purchased by California Historic Landmarks League and became part of the California Park System in 1906. By 1913, both had been reconstructed. After the 1940s, the former church and convento were remodeled along more authentic lines suited to exhibits devoted exclusively to mission history."
... looking into the chapel from the vestibule...
... the view along the nave towards the high altar...
... from the high altar looking back towards the vestibule...
... the reconstructed pulpit...
... the high alter...
... the outside of the Chaple from the courtyard...
... the schoolroom and oven in the courtyard...
... the brand marks from the various Mission...
... more of the courtyard...
It was a nice drive up, about 45 minutes, the mission buildings and information on the self-guided tour were really quite interesting.
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That's about it for today sports fans, Part II tomorrow.
Thanks again for stopping by!!
Take care,
edgar
I love missions. I tried looking for cross stitch patterns of missions but only found a couple like the San Javier del Bac in Arizona and San Juan Capistrano and Santa Barbara in CA. Thanks for the pictures, Edgar. That mission is so colorful inside.
ReplyDeleteThanks Edgar! I love your occasional history lessons and this one if fabulous with all the pictures. Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I too, love the occasional history lesson. I'll never get there in person but your pictures bring it to me (does that make sense......hopefully, you know what I mean). It's a beautiful place! Thank you for the post.
ReplyDeleteI am a lover of history Edgar, so I find these posts so very interesting. That is quite a lovely Mission. I have only been to a few, the one in San Diego and one near Tuscon, Arizona. They are so interesting. The one near Tuscon just seems to rise up out of the desert.
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