Sonoma County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 483,878. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino County. It is west of Napa County and Lake County.
Drakes Bay is a 4 mi (6.4 km) wide bay named so by U.S. surveyor George Davidson in 1875 along the Point Reyes National Seashore on the coast of northern California in the United States, approximately 30 mi (48 km) northwest of San Francisco at approximately 38 degrees north latitude. The bay is approximately 8 mi (13 km) wide. It is formed on the lee side of the coastal current by Point Reyes. The bay is named after Sir Francis Drake and has long been considered Drake's most likely landing spot on the west coast of North America during his circumnavigation of the world by sea in 1579. An alternative name for this bay is Puerto De Los Reyes.
Bodega Bay is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately 5 mi (8 km) across and is located approximately 40 mi (60 km) northwest of San Francisco and 20 mi (32 km) west of Santa Rosa. The bay straddles the boundary between Sonoma County to the north and Marin County to the south. The bay is a marine habitat used for navigation, recreation, and commercial and sport fishing.
Bodega Head is a small promontory on the Pacific coast of northern California in the United States. It is located in Sonoma County at 38.311°N 123.066°W, approximately 40 mi (64 km) northwest of San Francisco and approximately 20 mi (32 km) west of Santa Rosa.
Bodega Harbor is a small, shallow, natural harbor on the Pacific coast of northern California in the United States, approximately 40 mi (64 km) northwest of San Francisco. The harbor is approximately 2 sq mi (5.2 km2) in area.
Goat Rock Beach is a sand beach in northwestern Sonoma County, California, United States. This landform is a sub-unit of Sonoma Coast State Beach, owned and managed by the State of California. At the northern terminus of Goat Rock Beach is the mouth of the Russian River, and the southern end of this crescent shaped expanse is the massive Goat Rock, an iconic outcrop of the Sonoma Coast, which is barely attached to the mainland by a narrow isthmus.
Eckley was a city in Contra Costa County, California, which served as a train-ferry landing for crossings of the Carquinez Strait prior to the opening of the Benicia-Martinez railroad bridge. It lay on the Southern Pacific Railroad 4.5 miles (7.2 km) northwest of Martinez, at an elevation of 10 feet.
Tomales High School is located in the town of Tomales, California, United States. It is the comprehensive high school of the Shoreline Unified School District. It serves the western Marin and Sonoma County communities, stretching from the towns of Point Reyes Station and Inverness along Tomales Bay, running north past the fishing port of Bodega Bay to the mouth of the Russian River, a distance of nearly 50 miles (80 km), and widening 13 miles (21 km) east from the west coast. Tomales High School draws its students from approximately 450 square miles (1,200 km2). Tomales High School was recognized as a California Distinguished School in 2011.
Doran Regional Park is a regional park south of Bodega Bay, California, U.S.A. that is maintained by the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department. It covers an area of 127 acres (51 ha). It is located at 38.314°N 123.0428°W on the sand spit separating Bodega Harbor from Bodega Bay. The park address is 201 Doran Beach Road, Bodega Bay, CA.
Black Point is a cape on the Pacific Coast of northern California in the United States. It is located in the Sea Ranch area of Sonoma County at 38.679°N 123.432°W, approximately 80 miles (130 km) northwest of San Francisco and approximately 40 miles (60 km) northwest of Santa Rosa.
Gerstle Cove State Marine Reserve (SMR) is a marine protected area that lies onshore from Salt Point State Park, within the Salt Point State Marine Conservation Area, in Sonoma County on California’s north central coast. The marine protected area covers 0.1 square miles. Gerstle Cove SMR prohibits the take of all living resources.
Del Mar Landing State Marine Reserve (SMR) is a marine protected area that lies onshore, about two miles (3 km) south of the town of Gualala and three and a half miles north of Sea Ranch in Sonoma County on California’s north central coast. The marine protected area covers 0.22 square miles (0.57 km2). Del Mar Landing SMR prohibits the take of all living marine resources.
Stewarts Point State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Stewarts Point State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas that extend offshore from about a mile south of Black Point to Fisk Mill Cove, in Sonoma County on California’s north central coast. The marine protected areas cover 25.22 square miles. Stewarts Point SMR prohibits the take of all living marine resources. Stewarts Point SMCA prohibits the take of all living marine resources, except recreational shore based take of marine aquatic plants, marine invertebrates, finfish by hook and line, surf smelt by beach net, and species authorized by Title 14 Section 28.80 by hand-held dip net.
Salt Point State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area that lies onshore from Fisk Mill Cove and south along Salt Point State Park in Sonoma County on California’s north central coast. The marine protected area covers 3.12 square miles. Salt Point SMCA prohibits the take of all living marine resources, except the recreational take of abalone and finfish.
Bodega Head State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Bodega Head State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas off Bodega Bay in Sonoma County on California’s north-central coast. The combined area of these marine protected areas is 21.64 square miles (56.0 km2), with 9.3 square miles (24 km2) in the SMR, and 12.34square miles in the SMCA. Bodega Head SMR prohibits the take of all living marine resources. Bodega Head SMCA prohibits the take of all living marine resources, except the recreational and commercial take of pelagic finfish with troll fishing gear or seine, Dungeness crab by trap, and market squid by hand-held dip net and round haul net.
Russian River State Marine Recreational Management Area (SMRMA) and Russian River State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas in the Russian River estuary area in Sonoma County, California, on the north-central coast of the state. The combined area of these marine protected areas is 1.21 square miles (3.1 km2), with 0.35 square miles (0.91 km2) in the SMRMA and 0.86 square miles (2.2 km2) in the SMCA.
Rancho German was a 17,580-acre (71.1 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Ernest Rufus. Rufus named the ranch after Hermann, the German hero who defeated the Roman legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest at the time of the Emperor Augustus. Herman, in Spanish, would be written "German". The name "Rancho de Hermann" appears on the diseno, but the expediente has "German". The grant extended along the Pacific coast from the Gualala River on the north to Salt Point State Park on the south, and included present day Gualala, Sea Ranch and Stewart's Point.
Watson School is a Sonoma County Regional Parks Department historic park, covering approximately 0.75 acres (0.30 ha), located about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Bodega, California, on the south side of the road, at 15000 Bodega Highway in Sonoma County, California, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
From 1577 to 1580 Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the world. In 1579 as part of this voyage he landed on the west coast of North America which consequently has drawn the attention of scores of historians, geographers, linguists, anthropologists and other professionals. In addition, many history buffs have sought to locate Drake's New Albion. The accepted site for Drake's 1579 landing at New Albion is at Drake's Cove in Drakes Bay in Marin County, California. More than a score of ideas have been put forth—covering the coast from Alaska to Baja California Sur, Mexico. These ideas span the eighteenth through the early twenty-first centuries.
