June 23, 2026
As our regular readers will know, we are on a quest to visit all of the historic missions in California. Mission San Francisco Solano was the last of the 21 missions to be built. It is also the farthest north and was founded in 1823, two years after Mexico gained its independence. Consequently, it is the only mission to be established by Mexico rather than Spain. The mission only operated for 11 years because Mexico started closing the missions in 1833. In a process called secularization, the church portion of the missions were kept operating, albeit by Mexican rather than Spanish priests, while the vast lands of the missions were taken from the Church and distributed to local inhabitants. Half of the lands were supposed to go to the local indigenous people, but we are sure to no one’s great surprise, most ended up in the hands of the local rancheros.
Unlike the other missions we have visited, Mission San Francisco Solano is not owned and operated by the Catholic Church. Rather, it is managed by California State Parks as part of Sonoma State Historic Park. It is a museum rather than an active parish. It also appears less cared for than the other missions but, nevertheless, was one of the favorites that we have visited.
Mal and Lauren 