Fort Rossstate Historic Park
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Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is to provide for the health, inspiration and n 1812, Russian and Fort Ross education of the people of California by helping I to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological State Historic Park diversity, protecting its most valued natural and Alaskan explorers and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. traders established Fort Ross at Metini, a centuries-old Kashaya California State Parks supports equal access. Pomo coastal village. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at (707) 847-3286. If you need this publication in an alternate format, contact [email protected]. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov SaveTheRedwoods.org/csp Fort Ross State Historic Park 19005 Highway 1 Jenner, CA 95450 (707) 847-3286 © 2001 California State Parks (Rev. 2018) F ort Ross State Historic Park, one of supplies of abalone, mussels, fish, and a rich Island to Sitka in present-day Alaska, as the oldest parks in the California State Park variety of sea plants. The Kashaya harvested well as in Hawaii. System, was established in 1906. Located sea salt for domestic use and trading. Plants, The operation expanded when American on the Sonoma coast 11 miles northwest of acorns, deer, and smaller mammals provided ship captains contracted with the Russian- Jenner on Highway 1, the 3,386-acre park abundant foods inland. American Company for joint ventures, preserves North America’s southernmost The Kashaya Pomo excelled in the art using Alaska natives to hunt sea otters and Russian settlement. The Fort Ross Colony of basket making. They wove intricate fur seals along the coast of Alta and Baja was founded in 1812 by members of the containers of wooly sedge grass and bulrush California. Otter pelts were highly valued in Russian-American Company, who built it roots, redwood bark, and willow and redbud trade with China, and large profits flowed to with the help of Alaskan Alutiiq natives. branches. The baskets were used for cooking company shareholders, including members Northwest of the fort, the old Call Ranch and storing food, trapping fish or animals, of Russian nobility. House and buildings represent the ranching toys, cradles, gifts, and ceremonies. Some The Russian-American Company’s chief era that followed the Russian settlement. baskets were colored with wild walnut juice manager, Alexander Baranov, sent his Park facilities include a visitor center with and berries and decorated with beads, quills, assistant, Ivan Kuskov, to locate a California interpretive exhibits and a research library, or feathers. One prized feather came from the site that could serve as a trading base. a museum bookstore, gardens, the Russian red spot on a red-winged blackbird. Kuskov arrived in Bodega Bay on the ship Cemetery, and the Historic Orchard. The fort The Kashaya bartered with the neighboring Kodiak in January of 1809 and remained and its buildings have a sweeping view of the Coast Miwok, who lived south of the Pacific Ocean, coastal terraces, and densely Russian River near Bodega Bay. Kashaya forested ridges. first encountered non-native people when Winter storms frequently batter the Russians came to Metini. coastline with gale-force winds. Normal Russians in North America annual rainfall averages 44 inches, with 35 Beginning in 1742, promyshlenniki (Russian inches falling between November and April. serfs or native Siberian contract workers) Spring can be windy, and summer often began to leave the Siberian mainland by ship brings a thick layer of fog. to seek fur-bearing marine mammals on and PARK HISTORY near the many islands to the east. Native People In 1784 Gregory Shelikov built the first permanent Russian settlement on Metini was a village between the Gualala Kodiak Island, in what is now Alaska. The River and the Russian River that had been organization he led became the Russian- occupied for centuries by the Kashaya band American Company in 1799, when Tsar of Pomo people. Archaeological evidence Paul granted the company a charter giving shows that Kashaya Pomo would move their it monopoly over all Russian enterprises villages from ridgetops to camps in the in North America. The Russian-American foothills and along the coast, according to Company established colonies from Kodiak the season. At the shore, they found plentiful Artifacts of settlement life until late August. He and his party of 40 grow wheat and other crops Russians and 150 Alaskans explored the for Russians living in Alaska, entire region, taking more than 2,000 sea to hunt marine mammals, otter pelts back to Alaska. and to trade with Spanish Kuskov returned to California to Alta California. establish a Russian outpost at Metini, On August 30, 1812, the 18 miles north of Bodega Bay. The site colony was formally dedicated had plentiful water, forage, and pasture, and renamed “Ross” to and a nearby supply of coast redwood honor its connection with for construction. The village’s relative Imperial Russia — or Rossiia. inaccessibility from the Spanish-occupied The colonists called their territory to the south also gave the settlers new home Fortress Ross or a defensive advantage. Settlement Ross. In 1812 Kuskov brought 25 Russians Life at the Ross Colony and 80 Alaskans to build houses and a The newcomers built redwood stockade. They established a colony to structures and a wooden stockade with two cannon- Russian flag at the Rotchev House fortified blockhouses on the northwest and southeast corners. A well Elena. Several other buildings have been in the center of the fort provided water. reconstructed: the first Russian Orthodox The interior contained the manager’s two- chapel south of Alaska, the stockade, and story house, the clerks’ quarters, artisans’ five other buildings — the first manager’s workshops, and Russian officials’ barracks. home (Kuskov House), the Officials’ In the mid-1820s, the chapel was built. Quarters, a Fur Warehouse (or magazin), Outside the stockade to the northwest, and two blockhouses. lower-ranking employees and people of Only a small number of Russian men mixed ancestry gradually established a and fewer Russian women are believed village, and to the southwest the native to have lived at Ross. The settlement was Alaskans lived in another village on a multicultural for at least thirty years — with bluff above a small cove. native Siberians, Alaskans, Hawaiians, One surviving original Californians, and individuals of mixed structure at Fort Ross is the European and Native American ancestry. Rotchev House, renovated In addition to farming and hunting sea about 1836 and named for mammals, Ross colony industries included Ivan Kuskov, Alexander Rotchev, the blacksmithing, tanning, brickmaking, barrel first manager of Fort Ross last manager of Ross, who making, and shipbuilding. The first ship built in lived there with his wife California, Rumiantsev, was completed in 1818. By 1820 the marine mammal population posts, tanbark, apples, and dairy stands of was depleted from over-hunting by the products well into the 20th century. redwood trees. Americans, Spanish, and Russians. The Workers loaded cargo onto vessels Diverse wildlife species live at Russian-American Company subsequently anchored at the wharf in the Fort Ross. Visitors may encounter introduced hunting moratoriums on seals and sheltered cove below using a cargo gray foxes, black-tailed hares, otters, establishing the first marine-mammal chute. The Calls owned the ranch mountain lions and bobcats. conservation laws in the Pacific. property until 1973. Marine mammals include Russians contributed greatly to In 1903 the California Historical harbor seals, sea lions and California’s scientific knowledge. Their Landmarks Committee purchased migrating gray whales. voyages expanded the study of geography, the Ross stockade area from the Birdwatchers may find cartography, ethnography, geology, Call family; the State of California osprey, red-tailed and red- meteorology, hydrography, botany, and acquired the site in 1906. shouldered hawks, turkey biology. Results gained from Russian California State Parks has vultures, kestrels, herons voyages brought about many early charts of done extensive restoration and other shore birds. California’s north coast. and reconstruction while In 1840 Russian naturalist and artist Ilya adding acreage to preserve the INTERPRETIVE PROGRAMS Voznesenskii spent a year at Ross, gathering surrounding environment. The Interpretive presentations, specimens of California’s flora and fauna. He refurbished Rotchev House has educational programs, and also collected native California artifacts, such been listed in the National tours are offered. Fort Ross as the acclaimed Kashaya Pomo baskets. Register of Historic Places. Great blue heron Festival is held annually in July. Many of these specimens are displayed School groups may participate today in the Peter the Great Museum (the NATURAL HISTORY in “living history” Environmental Living Kunstkamera) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Fort Ross is located on a wave-cut marine Programs, taking participants back to the terrace between the ocean to the southwest early 1800s, or in Marine Ecology Programs. The Post-Russian Period and high, forested hills to the northeast. For more information, please contact Fort In December 1841, the Russian-American Steep bluffs drop several hundred feet into Ross Conservancy at (707) 847-3437 or visit Company sold its Fort Ross holdings to John the sea to the southeast. Below the fort, the website at www.fortross.org. Sutter. Sutter sent his trusted assistant, John sheltered Sandy Cove features a serene Bidwell, to gather up the Ross hardware, beach and still waters. Fort Ross Creek flows RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES cattle, sheep, and other animals and over two miles to Sandy Cove. Picnicking — Tables are located near the transport them to the Sacramento valley, Redwood and coniferous forests, visitor center, the Call Ranch House, in the where Sutter had built his own fort.