The Sonoma Barracks
Near Sonoma Sebastopol, California
The long two story adobe building on the north side of the plaza is the Sonoma Barracks, and few structures have flown so many flags. General Mariano Vallejo ordered it built in the eighteen thirties to house the Mexican soldiers who guarded the northern frontier of Alta California against raids and against the ambitions of foreign powers. Its wide upper balcony looked out over the plaza that doubled as a military parade ground.
When the American settlers seized Sonoma in June of eighteen forty six, this was the garrison they captured, and it became the makeshift capital of their tiny California Republic. For twenty five days the Bear Flag flew nearby. Then, on July ninth, eighteen forty six, a United States naval officer raised the American flag over these barracks, and the republic quietly ended.
The building went on to serve as a post for the United States Army, and later held shops, a winery, and other businesses as Sonoma grew into a farming and wine town. Restored and preserved, the barracks is now part of Sonoma State Historic Park. Its thick adobe walls and shaded balcony make it one of the most recognizable landmarks on the plaza, a survivor that watched California pass from Mexico to a homemade republic to the United States, all within a single summer.
