Sonoma Valley Historical Society

06/21/2026

Free event -Saturday July 18, 2026 Carrie Gibson will speak about her new book Resistance-'The 400-Year Fight to End Slavery in the Americas’ for the Sonoma Valley Historical Society -10:30 am in Room 110 at the Sonoma Community Center. This is a Free presentation.

Read her article about her book El Norte in todays Press Democrat

As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary, stories of Hispanic heroism vital to the country’s independence continue to stay dormant in American history.

06/20/2026

Do not miss this event!

06/15/2026

The Sonoma Valley Historical Society will feature a dramatic reading of “Dearest Friend”—a two-character play by Peter Manos about the relationship between John Adams, the second U.S. president, and Abigail Adams, his wife and closest advis…

Read more below

05/25/2026

Another little known National Register Property in the city of Sonoma -Orange Lawn. Building Style Late Victorian: Italianate. The significance is for a representative example of Italianate architecture, displaying the distinctive characteristics of that style and possessing high artistic value. The building also represents the work of an unknown master craftsman w'hose sawn ornament
achieves significance as sculptural folk art. The 1872 mansion was constructed on a concrete foundation with cellar, and the formal
grounds include concrete walkways, flower urns and entry steps. The early use of concrete in the construction of the residence and landscape design is extraordinary for the country at this time,
but consistent with concrete construction that occurred in Sonoma dunng the 1860s - 1870s.
Native and exotic trees dating from the 19* century grace the grounds of Orange Lawn and include olive, black walnut, cedar, magnolia, catalpa, Monterey pine and redwood species. A locust tree, pictured in an 1883 photograph of Maria Young, still stands in the west garden. Interconnecting walkways made of concrete wind through two acres of manicured lawn and are original to the construction of the house. The name may refer to several attributes associated with the landscape design of the estate,
namely the color of summer lawns surrounding the mansion and the Youngs interest in citrus cultivation. Daniel expenmented with orange and lemon trees and exhibited samples at the State Fair in 1873. Many in Sonoma hoped oranges would become an important industry including General Vallejo who shipped some, grown from his garden, to the Alta Newspaper in 1872. Fie hoped to gain notority for his successful “culture of semi-tropical fruit.” Pioneer resident, Caleb.C. Carringer, began planting orange and lemon trees as early as 1863 and by 1873 his orchard included 100 specimens.
The first recorded deed for the land dates from January 1850 between the Mayor of Sonoma, Alcalde William M. Fuller, and Solomon H. Carriger, a pioneer from Tennessee and Southern sympathizer. Carriger amassed large tracts of land, established vineyards and fruit orchards and was well known in the community for his political influence and business enterprise. Like so many land transactions that occurred during the Yankee settlement period,
the property changed hands frequently and for vast amounts, reflecting considerable land speculation. Dona Maria Carrillo, a relative of General Vallejo, purchased the property in 1853 and retained an interest in the land until 1870. Remnants of adobe construction found on the property by the Armstrongs who owned the mansion from 1938 to 1987 suggests that the land may have been occupied during the Mexican Period. By 1856, Coleman B. Smith, a farmer from New York, acquired the property and settled there with his wife and family. He recorded a homestead in 1861, declaring residency and was taxed in 1868/69 on improvements and 36 acres valued at $960. In 1870, the 58 year old farmer managed to raise fruit, pigs and some hay with the help of a Chinese laborer living with the family. Smith was losing his sight and sold the property to Daniel Young. He relocated nearby to Outlot 521. In March of 1870, Daniel Young agreed by promissory note to pay $2500 for the farm. The purchase also included the “strips of land” previously designated as streets on O’Farrells 1850
Map which added another 3.5 acres to the property for a total of 35 acres. The land was improved v.'ith fruit trees and English walnuts and included a residence and outbuildings for livestock and farm equipment. The Youngs developed and owned Orange Lawn for twenty-two years from 1870 to 1892. Maria
Young was forced to sell her beloved home in 1892. W.S. Miller of San Francisco purchased the property for $4756.41 and maintained ownership for 18 years.
Now sitting in the Armstrong subdivision the property retains its historic character

05/24/2026

We received this notification from the State Office of Historic California Office of Historic Preservation The event is at 1 pm May 28, 2026

05/24/2026

Tomorrow 10:30 am the Solomon Schocken Stroll to commemorate one of the city’s most historically significant citizens: Solomon Schocken.
Schocken’s ingenuity, initiative, and industriousness elevated the city’s overall economic and civic well-being in numerous ways in the late 1800’s and the beginning of the 1900’s.

05/17/2026

We thought it would be a good time to talk about the history of the Blue Wing Inn as we honor May as Historic Preservation Month.
May 18, 2026 the State Parks will have an event to present the conditions of a 50 year lease for the Blue Wing Inn https://www.parks.ca.gov/NewsRelease/1505
When Mariano Vallejo laid out the pueblo of Sonoma according to the Laws of the Indies in 1835, the site of the Blue Wing Inn became part of Lot 35. Although it is not recorded if there were any buildings on the site, based on the layout of missions, there was an overseers house on this location. The Mayordomo of the Sonoma Mission was Juan Miranda. He and his family lived in a one room adobe that is a part of the existing building. His was the first non-indigenous family in Sonoma
The first recorded property transaction involving Lot 35 took place on July 11, 1836 when Vallejo granted the eastern half of the parcel to his associate Antonio Ortega. Vallejo gave up his position as majordomo of Sonoma to Ortega but Vallejo then fired him in 1837. Within a year of acquiring the parcel, Ortega was recorded as residing in a small adobe structure on the lot. Ortega was running a pulqueria (a shop selling the alcoholic beverage, pulque) as late as August 1848 on the site. The book titled ‘Early Inns of California’ suggests the dimensions of Ortega’s adobe were 35′ x 65′. These dimensions are consistent with the two eastern rooms today.
Ortega sold the adobe and the eastern half of lot 35 to Thomas Spriggs and James C. Cooper on August 15, 1849. General Vallejo was a witness to the transfer. In late 1849 Cooper and Spriggs began a second story addition above the original structure and added a wooden balcony, giving the structure the appearance of a Monterey style adobe. In early 1852, Cooper and Spriggs built a 35′ x 35′ two story addition on the west wall of the existing building. A Von Geldren painting completed in 1852 shows the ‘Sonoma House’, as it was now called, completed.
During the Gold Rush, many prospectors passed through Sonoma on their way to the Trinity and Shasta mines. In 1849, when General Persifor Smith headquartered the U.S. Army of the Pacific in Sonoma, he brought with him officers who frequented the hotel. Many later fought in the Civil War. Both William Tecumseh Sherman and Joseph Ho**er served as adjutants to General Smith. Miners arrived from San Francisco on their way to the Trinity Gold Fields, and returned to celebrate and gamble in the Blue Wing.
Visitors included future Civil War generals, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Ho**er, Major Philip Kearney, and Captains Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman, as well as notables such as John C. Fremont, Lotta Crabtree, Three-fingered Jack and the legendary Joaquin Murrieta.In the early 1879's Jean Pierre Lounibus from Bearn Switzerland was Cellarmaster in the Blue Wing and the family lived upstairs there before the family moved to their Casa Madrona in the western foothills. It was owned by Tiven at the time and obviously used as a winery
The Blue Wing passed through various hands until 1895 when Agostino Pinelli purchased it. When Pinelli purchased the property there was a wine press in the rear yard. During the Pinelli years, the building was used for wine storage (see the pictures and stories of how Pinelli put out the fire of 1913 with wine), housing for stone masons, the Sonoma Chamber of Commerce and as a museum.
Pinelli was noted for putting out an disasterous fire that consumed most of the buildings on First St East, across from the Sonoma Plaza. Pinelli stopped the fire by extinguishing it by pumping wine stored in vats at the Blue Wing.
Pinelli and his descendants owned the property until 1934 when they sold it to the Editor of the Index Tribune and her husband Walter Murphy. In 1940 they sold the building to Alma Spreckels and her husband Elmer Awl.
Elmer Awl envisioned the Blue Wing as a center for the ‘Vigilantes’, a San Francisco area group based on the Santa Barbara men’s club, Los Rancheros Visitadores, The Awls performed some preservation work until Alma and her husband divorced. Alma signed the building over to Elmer in 1945.
The building subsequently sold to William Henry and Eleanora Bosworth Black, who owned the building until 1968 when Mr. Black sold it to the State of California Division of Beaches and Parks. During the years they owned it, the Blacks converted the second floor of the building into apartments, made some repairs to the outside adobe bricks and added commercial enterprises on the first floor. The downstairs was also used later for apartments.
During the years that the State Parks owned the Blue Wing, it housed various businesses including the antique store of Fred Jenner. A Sonoma County supervisor lived in the apartments, as did Ray Jacobsen and his wife Barbara, both of whom were acknowledged for their contributions to Sonoma by being named ‘Sonoma Treasures’. Department of Parks and Recreation employees lived in the building including James B. (Beach) Alexander, author of ‘Sonoma Valley Legacy: Histories and Sites of 70 Historic Adobes in and around the Sonoma Valley’. Beach left a legacy to his friends of his love of Sonoma adobes and the Blue Wing in particular.
In 1975 the Blue Wing was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributor to the Sonoma Plaza National Historic Landmark District. The Blue Wing building is California Historical Land mark Number 17. In 1990 the City of Sonoma, in response the state Senate Bill 547, designated the Blue Wing Inn as a potentially hazardous unreinforced masonry building. The last tenant living in the Blue Wing Inn moved out in 2001.

05/15/2026

Glen Oaks Ranch, The stone barn is located on a gentle hillside. It has two stories and measures 75x35 feet. Lintels are massive wood beams. The interior has seven stalls, an aisle, and a tack room. At the southeast corner is a manger, accessible to livestock from the exterior, a very rare feature seen in this drawing.

The history of the barn is entwined with the ranch. Glen Oaks Ranch was once a part of a land grant issued to General Marino Vallejo in 1839. It was purchased in 1859 by Colonel Charles V. Stuart. He built the adobe stone mansion, barn, and smokehouse using local stone and Chinese labor. When Stuart died in 1880, he was one of the largest wine producers in the state. His wife Ellen managed the winery and became one of California’s first female winemakers.

In 1952, the Glen Oaks Ranch became the home of Roswell and Camille Cochran and their daughter Joan who devoted herself to the restoration and protection of the ranch. She left it to the Sonoma Land Trust4 and also granted a conservation easement to the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District5 that will ensure the hill of the ranch will be “forever wild.”

In 2012, the Stone Barn was completely retrofitted and restored by the Sonoma Land Trust. It received the Award of Excellence from the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation.

On October 9, 2017 the Stone Barn at Glen Oaks Ranch was lost in the Nuns firestorm. Wood was turned to ash and only a portion of stone walls remained with twisted metal beams from the stablization work

05/13/2026

Jack London State Park is an important reminder of the history of Sonoma Valley in many ways most commonly reference are the fascinating and important stories of Jack and his wife Charmian.
It became California's first Historic State Park and was dedicated September 24, 1960. The park area has expanded from 39 acres to over 800 in subsequent years.
A little known story is the story of the workers who built some of the original buildings for the Kolher and Frohling (K+F) vineyard and winery on the property. Until 1887 boycott of Chinese workers a majority of K+F workers were Chinese. The Sherry House (now the Sherry Barn) and Winery buildings are both built in the style of the Chinese constructed the nearby Glen Oaks Ranch Buildings. Although there is limited documentation of who built the buildings most of the K+F workers were Chinese as were the workers at Glen Oaks Ranch where they also built buildings.
K+F were noted for having workers housing on the property.
Jack London repurposed existing buildings for his ranch use. Thanks to https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37435304 for the photos