First Bear Flag Monument, Sonoma

Typically, when one reads about the Bear Flag Monument, one only hears about a single monument. Usually it is the second, larger monument which is referenced(second photo from top). But there is also an earlier Bear Flag Monument, erected in 1907 by the S.V.W.C.[Sonoma Valley Woman's Club]. This is the monument pictured in all of the photographs, above. The first (top) photo was taken in the early 1900s after erection of the monument. You can see in the background that the Sonoma Plaza, was a fairly open place even at that date. Today, as you can see in the three other photographs (taken in early January 2010), the Plaza is no longer just an open space lined by trees. It is very much a well established and beautiful City park. The S.V. Woman's Club had much to do with the Plaza's development.

Look at the ground in the second photo from the top. See the covered areas on the ground to the left of the rock monument. The furthest left is believed to have in its middle the remnants of an early flag pole, possibly the pole on which the original Bear Flag was first raised in June 1846.