H69.360.3

• spanish

Painting. Description: anon. oil painting of General Vallejo's adobe Casa Grande at Petaluma From the History Information Station Object: Painting of the adobe ranch house on General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo's Rancho Petaluma. History: In 1835 Jos_ Figueroa (governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835) chose Vallejo comisionado with the duties of secularizing Mission San Francisco Solano and founding the town of Sonoma. In compensation, Vallejo was given large tracts of land including, on October 22, 1843, Rancho Petaluma. The ranch house was built on a grander scale than any other adobe in northern California. The walls, three feet thick, are made of adobe bricks. Not a single nail was used in the construction; the frame work is constructed of beams hewn from trees and bound together with rawhide thongs. The building was deeded to the State of California in 1951. It has been restored and is open to visitors. Museum Purchase