That's a ship's bell in front of the church in Vallecito.  This photo appears on page 271 in Florin's book (1971).

The story behind this bell is interesting.  It was ordered by the town from a Troy, New York foundry in 1853.  In early 1854, the townspeople sent a delegation to San Francisco to retrieve it from the ship on which it had arrived.  The townspeople had to go get it because the crew had deserted the ship to head for the hills in search of gold.

Because the church had no steeple, the bell was hung in a large oak tree nearby.  It was used for many years, and then it hung silent for many years as the town lost population.

Ultimately, the bell fell to the ground during a windstorm which blew the tree over on February 16, 1939.  That same year, the bell was mounted on the monument seen here.  The stump at right is all that was left of the tree.

This photo, which was taken in fading sunlight and hence the slightly washed-out effect, was sent in by Henning Olesen of Denmark, who worked in this area of California in the late 1950s.

As this photo shows, at that time it was still possible to read the signs to see what the building was.  The very top of the apex says "1854," which would indicate when it was built.  Under this, it says "McGall's Center," and below that it says "Dinkelspiels Store."  To the right of this, it clearly reads "Old Wells Fargo Bank."  Then, along the facia board all the way across the front, it says, "General Merchandise Vallecito," then "Public Accountant," and then "Income Tax."

One thing to note between these two photos is that the faded writing on the left in the upper one does not look like the writing that was readable in the lower, earlier photo.  It would seem that the building housed one or more other businesses between the late 1950s and 1993.