The adobe Sonoma Barracks was built by Vallejo between 1834 and 1841 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 9, 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.
