Petaluma Abobe

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photo by Donald Kinney

Not far north of where I live (Marin County) is the historic Petaluma Adobe, originally an outpost and home to politician and rancher, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and his private military command.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

General Vallejo's troops did not receive sustenance from the Spanish government, so they were industrious at raising cattle and rustling their own food. But they were also soldiers, and theoretically were defending this area against an inward push by the Russians who had established an outpost and colony at Fort Ross on the coast to the west. (really)



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Following its separation from Spain, the Mexican government began to secularize the missions into parish churches. The vast mission holdings were divided and sold as land grants. In 1834 Governor Jose Figueroa ordered Lieutenant Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, commandant of the San Francisco presidio, to secularize Mission San Francisco Solano and start a pueblo at Sonoma [about 50miles] north of San Francisco Bay.
(source:  park brochure)



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

General Vallejo's main and extraordinarily opulent home is in Sonoma--the more primitive adobe in Petaluma was used more-or-less as an outpost and western ranch headquarters.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

These two photos (above) aren't new, but they are from the interior of General Vallejo's fashionable home in Sonoma, about 15 miles to the east of Petaluma Adobe. The well appointed and nicely preserved home is located about a half-mile west of Sonoma Mission. General Vallejo was obviously a very wealthy man.

Oh by the way, I have a set of 15 photos -- California Missions -- if you'd like to take a more in-depth look at photos taken at missions in Carmel, San Juan Bautista, San Francisco, San Rafael, Petaluma, and Sonoma.


CLICK for the very "best" of my work on my photo website.