2 Best Sights in Napa and Sonoma, California

The headquarters of General Mariano Vallejo’s vast (66,000 acres at its peak) agricultural domain from 1836 to 1846, this restored compound is the largest extant 19th-century residential adobe in the United States. The mostly low-tech exhibits explain Vallejo’s role as Mexico’s head honcho before California joined the United States and depict daily life for native peoples and Spanish and Mexican settlers.

Franciscan friars established the northernmost of their 21 California missions in 1823. Exhibits at the mission, the centerpiece of Sonoma State Historic Park, and nearby related sites convey a sense of life during the era of Mexican rule over California. The Sonoma Barracks, a half block west of the mission at 20 East Spain Street, housed troops under General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, who controlled vast tracts of land in the region. General Vallejo's home stands a few blocks farther west.