Sonoma Mountains

Petaluma Reservoir is a small, man-made lake located about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Petaluma in Sonoma County, California, United States. Also known as Lawler Reservoir, its waters are impounded by Lawler Dam, a rock fill dam 40 feet (12 m) high and 1,150 feet (350 m) long that was built in 1910. The City of Petaluma owns the reservoir.In 1992, the State of California declared the reservoir unsafe in the event of an earthquake. Rather than perform a seismic retrofit of the dam, the City decided to stop using it for water supply.

The Van Hoosear Wildflower Preserve is a private nature reserve on Carriger Creek in southern Sonoma County, California, United States. Van Hoosear was created to preserve an area known for displays of native wildflowers and to allow animal migration and ecological connection between Sonoma Mountain and the floor of the Sonoma Valley. This 163-acre (66 ha) preserve has been established with an endowment fund to allow perpetual management; access to the preserve is controlled by the Sonoma Ecology Center.

Sonoma Mountain is a prominent landform within the Sonoma Mountains of southern Sonoma County, California. At an elevation of 2,463 ft (751 m), Sonoma Mountain offers expansive views of the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Sonoma Valley to the east. In fact, the viticultural area extends in isolated patches up the eastern slopes of Sonoma Mountain to almost 1,700 feet (520 m) in elevation. The eastern and northern slopes are protected from afternoon heat and hence are more densely forested in oak woodlands, abetted by the well-drained, nutrient-rich soils. The western and southern slopes, on the other hand, are drier and warmer, leading to fewer dense woodlands and more chaparral, grassland and oak savannah.

The Nicholas Carriger Estate (16-acre) is a collection of buildings located in Sonoma, California, United States. The estate consists of three buildings: the main house built in 1847, a small house, which is a replica of the main house, built in 1860, and a winery, built in 1875. The main house and the Little Carriger house fall in the architectural Greek revival style. There also is a locally quarried "candy rock" stone small building next to the main house that may have been used as an ice house. The everflowing Yulupa Spring, which supplied water to the houses and is still flowing, is a short walk along a hillside pathway from the main house. In 1979 the estate was designated a Sonoma County Historic Landmark, and in 2001, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Nicholas Carriger built the property after traveling west with his family as a settler of California. Carriger was welcomed to the area by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. Vallejo and Carriger would remain lifelong friends. Carriger chose his estate property based on the scenery and the good drainage of the area. He purchased the property, 1,000 acres, from Vallejo. It was on this land that Carriger was reportedly the first American to grow wine grapes in Sonoma Valley. Cattle, purchased from Vallejo, also grazed the property. After an absence to participate in the gold rush, Carriger returned after great success finding gold, to complete the main house in 1850. In 1875, he began construction of his winery building with a large celebration where he laid the cornerstone and a box containing personal items relating to the Carriger family and Sonoma. Nicholas Carriger died in 1885 at his home and is buried with family and other notable pioneers of Sonoma at the Mountain Cemetery in Sonoma, California. After the death of his wife, Mary Ann Wardlow Carriger, in 1891, the property remained in the Carriger family until sold by daughter Levisa Carriger Lewis.

Archbishop Hanna High School is a private, all male high school in Sonoma, California. It was founded within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa.

Green String Farm was a 140-acre (57 ha) natural process sustainable farm near Petaluma, California that grew fruits and vegetables year-round and sold them in an on-site farm store. The farm also supplied produce, free-range eggs and grass fed beef to regional restaurants including Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA. Bob Cannard and Fred Cline founded Green String Farm in 2003. Green String focused on environmental sustainability practices, which is different from Certified Organic. Green String Farm closed permanently in December 2022.

Rancho Petaluma Adobe is a historic ranch house in Sonoma County, California. It was built from adobe bricks in 1836 by order of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. It was the largest privately owned adobe structure built in California and is the largest example of the Monterey Colonial style of architecture in the United States. A section of the former ranch has been preserved by the Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park and it is both a California Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. The Rancho Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park is located on Adobe Road on the east side of the present-day town of Petaluma, California.

The Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) was a large state school in California, United States for people with developmental disabilities, and is located in Eldridge in Sonoma County. Former names for this hospital include California Home for the Care and Training of Feeble Minded Children (1883); Sonoma State Home (1909); Sonoma State Hospital (1953); and Sonoma Developmental Center starting in 1986. The center closed on 31 December 2018.

Eldridge is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 1,233 at the 2010 census. It is notably the home to the Sonoma Developmental Center, the largest facility serving the needs of persons with developmental disabilities in the state.

Rancho Petaluma was a 66,622-acre (269.61 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Sonoma County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. Rancho Petaluma stretched from Petaluma River on the west over the hills and down to Sonoma Creek on the east, including all land that lay between these two waterways from the edge of San Francisco Bay to approximately the present site of Glen Ellen. The rancho included present-day Petaluma and Lakeville.

The Fairfield Osborn Preserve is a 450-acre nature reserve situated on the northwest flank of Sonoma Mountain in Sonoma County, California. There are eight plant communities within the property, oak woodland being the dominant type. Other communities include chaparral, Douglas fir woodland, native Bunch grass, freshwater marsh, vernal pool, pond and riparian woodland. The flora is extremely diverse including many native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, grasses, lichens and mosses. A diverse fauna inhabits this area including black-tailed deer, coyote, bobcat and an occasional mountain lion; moreover, there are abundant avifauna (including some neotropical migrants), amphibians, reptiles and insects. Copeland Creek and its tributaries drain the Preserve as they wend their way down steep ravines toward eventual discharge to the Laguna de Santa Rosa. The property was originally a Spanish Land Grant holding, devolving to private ownership and eventually given to The Nature Conservancy; the preserve is now owned and managed by Sonoma State University as a research and education site. An understated natural trail system weaves through the property to provide access to creek canyons, ridges and marshy areas. The preserve is situated at elevations 1,350 to 2,300 feet (411 to 701 meters) above sea level and features a landscape riddled with basalt exposures that betray the volcanic prehistory of Sonoma County. The climate at the Preserve is mild, with most rainfall occurring in the winter months and with some influence of the Pacific Ocean providing moderating temperatures and some marine fog on early summer mornings.

B.R. Cohn Winery is a winery in Sonoma Valley, California in the United States.