Time-scarred walls... often fail to impress those closest to them

“The old towns, chided with being ‘sleepy’ dead and ‘out of step,’ have spent time and money in modernizing, often at sorry cost as landmarks were scrapped and forgotten. It is only when adobes are crumbling, old Missions being restored, plazas about to be sold or dignified by some pretentious pile of belated monuments that the people of the pueblo begin to realize that history and landmarks are far more important than paved streets, concrete sidewalks, stucco store fronts, and all the pomp of Main Street.

Time-scarred walls, hallowed soil and descendants of the old families should be the pride of every historic town, yet those often fail to impress those closest to them."

From the preface of The People of the Pueblo: The Story of Sonoma by Celeste Granice Murphy

Thank you Celeste!