page_title: Sonoma State Historic Park
section_title: Lachryma Montis
hierarchical_section_title: Sonoma State Historic Park / Historic Sites / Lachryma Montis
caption_attribution_description: English: BUILT IN THE 1850’S AS A RETAIL STORE BUT THEN BECAME THE INEXPENSIVE EUREKA HOTEL UNTIL MANY ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS ARRIVED WHO CHANGED THE NAME TO TOSCANO.
context_page_description: Sonoma State Historic Park is a California State Park located in the center of Sonoma, California. The park consists of six sites: the Mission San Francisco Solano, the Sonoma Barracks, the Blue Wing Inn, La Casa Grande, Lachryma Montis, and the Toscano Hotel.
  The park was founded in 1909 and originally contained only the Mission San Francisco Solano. The State of California has, over the years, added additional historic locations to the Park. Many of the added venues were associated with the life of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo who was central to secularization of the Mission; the founding and improvement of the Mexican pueblo of Sonoma; and, the development of Sonoma as an American city.
context_section_description: Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo began purchasing acreage for the Vallejo Estate during November 1849.  He named it Lachryma Montis (mountain tear) a rough Latin translation of Chiucuyem (crying mountain) - the Native American name for the free-flowing spring on the property. The estate was located at the foot of the hills half-a-mile west and north of Sonoma's central plaza.  Vallejo determined to move his growing family from La Casa Grande after returning from Monterey and California's 1849 Constitutional Convention.
  Vallejo's home was built beside the spring and its pool in 1851-1852.  The two-story, wood frame house was prefabricated, designed and built on the east coast of United States.  It was shipped around Cape Horn on a sailing ship and then assembled at its present site. The design was Victorian Carpenter Gothic highlighted by a large Gothic window in the master bedroom, twin porches, dormer windows, and elaborate carved wooden trim along the eaves. Bricks were placed inside the walls of the house in order to keep it warm in winter and cool in summer.  Each room had its own white marble fireplace. Crystal chandeliers, lace curtains, and many other furnishings including the handsome, rosewood, concert-grand piano, were imported from Europe.
  The estate included pavilions and other outbuildings, a large barn and houses for the working staff.  The Cook House was a three room rectangular wooden building behind the main house. The cook lived in one room while the other two rooms were used for food preparation and cooking. El Delirio is a small wooden structure in the garden next to the main house It served as a retreat for the Vallejo family and guests.  A special warehouse was erected in 1852 in order to store wine, fruit, and other produce. The original timbers were cut and numbered in Europe and shipped to California. Eventually the building was converted to residential use and became known as the "Swiss Chalet".
  Grapevines were transplanted to the new site along with a wonderful assortment of fruit decorative trees and shrubs.  The quarter-mile-long driveway lined with cottonwood trees and Castilian roses. A vine-covered arbor shaded a wide pathway around the pool into which the spring flowed, and a number of decorative fountains and delightful little outbuildings also graced the grounds.
caption: Toscano Hotel
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