Random thoughts about life in and around Petaluma and Northern California
Postings will be on an irregular basis. For inquiries, post a comment to this page.
© Frank Simpson
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Random thoughts about life in and around Petaluma and Northern California
Postings will be on an irregular basis. For inquiries, post a comment to this page.
© Frank Simpson
Mr. Simpson;
Your request for information about the “Petaluma Bell” was forwarded to the Museum research library. The museum has one of the two bells given to Petaluma as the following explains. Here is the information we have about the bells:
Mission Bell El Camino Real Marker
In 1906 the California Mission Trail Association commemorated El Camino Real by placing cast iron replicas of mission bells along the route traveled between the missions by the padres. Much later, a close reading of the diary of Fr. Jose Altimira by Ed Mannion established Petaluma’s location on El Camino Real. Altimira described that the walk from the mission at San Rafael to that in Sonoma entailed traveling north, beyond where the city of Petaluma is today, before crossing the marshes of Petaluma Creek. Acquisition of a bell became a Petaluma Bicentennial Committee project and two original cast bells were the gift of the Redwood Empire Association. The other now hangs on the traditional curved top standard at the north end of Center Park.