Petaluma, California

Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, with a population of 59,776 at the 2020 census and a total area of about 37.6 square kilometres, nearly all of it land. Its name comes from the Miwok village of Peta Luuma, which stood on the banks of the Petaluma River. The modern city grew out of Rancho Petaluma, a Mexican land grant of 1834 to the Californio statesman Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, who is regarded as its founder, and Vallejo had a ranch house, the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, built near the town in 1836. Today Petaluma is known for its well-preserved historic centre and serves as a local hub for the Petaluma Valley region of Sonoma County, with the unincorporated communities of Penngrove and Lakeville lying to the north and south.