Sonoma Mission

The north side of the plaza was the first to be developed in the early days of Sonoma and is where the oldest buildings can be found, many now part of the Sonoma State Historic Park. The Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma (corner of 1st St. and E. Spain St., 707/938-9560, open 10 a.m.–5 p.m., $2), established in 1823, was the last of California’s 21 missions but had a short religious life. Its land and buildings were seized by the Mexican government in 1834, along with all the other missions on the West Coast. By the end of the 1800s, Sonoma’s once-proud mission had suffered the ignominy of being used as hay barn and a winery, and of having a saloon built right in front of it.

Enter the unlikely figure of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who helped provide funding that enabled a preservation society to buy the mission in 1903 for $5,000. Restoration didn’t start until 1911, however, by which time various collapses had left the building in ruins. The reconstructed building open to the public today has a large cross on the roof where an old bell tower used to be but is otherwise largely the same as the original. The $2 entrance fee buys access to a small museum and the large, dusty courtyard full of giant cacti said to be as old as the mission itself. Just don’t touch the cacti or you’ll be pulling tiny, hairlike spikes out of your hands for the rest of the day.