To spot Sherman Quarters, just look straight ahead for a small, one-story stone and adobe building with a worn, peeling white plaster front, a wood-shingled gable roof, and a set of wooden steps leading up to a dark, weathered door nestled behind leafy green bushes.
Alright, adventurer-welcome to the legendary Sherman Quarters! Imagine yourself stepping back to 1834: there’s a salty ocean breeze drifting from the bay, the earthy scent of adobe, and the chatter of early Monterey life all around. This isn’t just any old building; this was built by Thomas O. Larkin, a top-notch diplomat and businessman, who thought, “You know what? My house needs a little company.” So here it stands, rough fieldstone and all, painted plaster now crumbling, bravely showing its age.
Now, you might hear footsteps crunching the gravel path as soldiers once did here, because in 1847, the building became the quarters for none other than Lieutenant William Tecumseh Sherman-yep, the same Sherman who’d one day become a famous general in the Civil War. Before all that glory, though, young Sherman and Henry Halleck, his trusty secretary of state, bunked right here. Picture them: maps sprawled out, voices low, as they worked under Colonel Richard Barnes Mason, planning the U.S. occupation of California, after it was taken from Mexico.
But here’s where it gets juicy! Local legend whispers of a romance between Sherman and the beautiful Señorita Maria Ygnacia Bonifacio, who lived here before his arrival. It’s said he gifted her a rose tree-the famous “Sherman Rose”-with a promise to return. Now, is that not the biggest “I left my heart in Monterey” moment ever? I wonder if Sherman got a “Dear John” letter or if Maria just got really good at gardening!
Peek around the garden and you might spot palm, fig, or redwood-nature’s silent witnesses to dinners, secret meetings, and maybe even stolen kisses. Even the old cannon out front was put to use as a hitching post-because when you don’t have a car, tying your horse to a cannon sounds logical, right?
Over the years, this place wore many hats. Sherman called it the “adobe back of Larkin’s” in his memoirs. Later, in the 1920s, Larkin’s granddaughter Alice transformed it into a welcoming tea room, probably pouring tea where secret plans had once been whispered!
Artists have felt its charm, too-Percy Gray painted it, and Evelyn McCormick captured its spirit in her own art. If the walls could talk, they’d have stories from wars, parties, romance, and renovations involving crumbling plaster and clumsy painters.
Though it’s closed inside, you can see a marker on the wall celebrating the quarters of General Sherman. So, take a deep breath of California’s sweet air, and imagine the adventures that began right here-where flowers, soldiers, artists, and maybe a few ghosts still linger!
