The last mission to be built, San Francisco Solano was the only one founded under Mexican rule. It was also the only mission built without permission of the Mission Presidente. Padre José Altimira believed that the warmer climate north of the bay area would be healthier for his rheumatic neophyte converts at Mission Dolores and set out on his own to find a healthier environment. But he also believed moral instruction required flogging, and was soon forced to flee the area by angry neophytes. His replacement, Padre Fortuny, completed the mission by 1833 but, with secularization, it soon became an ordinary parish church. The land was bought in the early 1900s by Italian immigrant Samuele Sebastiani, who then established a successful winery.

Twenty-first Mission Built

Founded: 1823

Location:
20 E. Spain Street Sonoma

MAP TO MISSION &
DRIVING INSTRUCTIONS

Mission Scrapbook

LIMITED FINE ART EDITION
"Summertime in Sonoma"

photos: © 2000 Howard Anderson