The adobe Sonoma Barracks was built by Vallejo between 1836 and 1840 to house Mexican troops. Today, interpretive displays describe life during the Mexican and American periods. The Barracks became the capital of a rogue nation on June 14, 1846, when American settlers, of varying sobriety, surprised guards and declared an independent ‘California Republc’ [sic] with a homemade flag featuring a blotchy bear.
The US took over a month later, but abandoned the barracks during the Gold Rush, leaving Vallejo to turn them into (what else?) a winery, in 1860.
