Sonoma County History

Coast Miwoks

Coast Miwoks: Point Reyes National Seashore
The early Coast Miwoks lived in Southern Sonoma County and Marin. This website presents brief information on the culture and daily life of the Coast Miwoks and includes information on visiting Kule Loklu, a recreated Miwok village located near the visitor's Center at Point Reyes National Seashore.

Pomo

Early Pomo inhabited Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino counties, especially the Russian River area. The following links provide information about the language, daily life, and land of the Pomo Indians.

Pomo Indian Tribe History
Pomo Language
Wikipedia: Pomo People

Historic Sites

Mission San Francisco de Solano
This site outlines the history of the northernmost mission in California, located in the town of Sonoma. Also, take a look at photos from a mission field trip.

Fort Ross: A Piece Right Out Of History
At this ThinkQuest Junior site, 4th graders from Redwood City present the history of Fort Ross and share their personal experiences of an overnight stay at the Fort. The reference page includes more Fort Ross links and fun features include photos, drawings, movies, and a Jeopardy-style quiz.

Luther Burbank Virtual Museum
This California SCORE site created by a Santa Rosa teacher introduces Luther Burbank, a Sonoma County resident and botanist whose scientific experiments in agriculture changed farming in California and across the world. Features include history, photographs, and tours (both past and present!) of Luther Burbank's home & gardens in Santa Rosa and Gold Ridge Farm in Sebastopol. There are also related links, teacher activities, and correlations to California standards for 3rd and 4th grades.

Parks and Recreation in Sonoma County
This online guide to many of the parks in Sonoma County includes historical sites like Fort Ross, Sonoma State Historical area (Mission San Francisco de Solano, barracks, plaza, etc.), Petaluma Adobe, Luther Burbank Gardens, and Jack London State Park.

Sonoma County Cities and Towns

Take a tour of Petaluma’s historic Victorian downtown
Enjoy a virtual tour of Petaluma, with a focus on historical buildings. Color photos.

The City of Santa Rosa: History: The Founders
This site presents a brief introduction to Santa Rosa historical figures and founders.

An Historic Overview of the Town of Windsor
This look at Windsor history begins with settlers of the 1850s. It is excerpted from The Project Windsor Report.