 | Fort Ross Park Brochure |

Fort Ross
State Historic Park
Our Mission
The mission of California State Parks is
to provide for the health, inspiration and
education of the people of California by helping
to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological
diversity, protecting its most valued natural and
cultural resources, and creating opportunities
for high-quality outdoor recreation.
In 1812, Russian and
Alaskan explorers and
traders established
Fort Ross at Metini,
a centuries-old Kashaya
California State Parks supports equal access.
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 interp@parks.ca.gov.
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
Discover the many states of California.™
SaveTheRedwoods.org/csp
Fort Ross State Historic Park
19005 Highway 1
Jenner, CA 95450
(707) 847-3286
© 2001 California State Parks (Rev. 2014)
Pomo coastal village.
F
ort Ross State Historic Park, one of the
oldest parks in the California State Park
System, was established in 1906. Located
on the Sonoma coast 11 miles northwest of
Jenner on Highway 1, the 3,386-acre park
preserves North America’s southernmost
Russian settlement. The Fort Ross Colony
was founded in 1812 by members of the
Russian-American Company, who built it
with the help of Alaskan Alutiiq natives.
Northwest of the fort, the old Call Ranch
House and buildings represent the ranching
era that followed the Russian settlement.
Park facilities include a visitor center with
interpretive exhibits and a research library,
a museum bookstore, gardens, the Russian
Cemetery and the Historic Orchard. The
fort and its buildings have a sweeping view
of the Pacific Ocean, coastal terraces and
densely forested ridges.
Winter storms frequently batter the
coastline with gale-force winds. Normal
annual rainfall averages 44 inches, with 35
inches falling between November and April.
Spring can be windy, and summer often
brings a thick layer of fog.
PARK HISTORY
Native People
Metini was a village between the Gualala
River and the Russian River that had been
occupied for centuries by the Kashaya band
of Pomo people. Archaeological evidence
shows that Kashaya Pomo would move
their villages from ridgetops to camps in
the foothills and along the coast, according
to the season. At the shore, they found
plentiful supplies of abalone, mussels, fish,
and a rich variety of sea plants. The Kashaya
harvested sea salt for domestic use and
trading. Plants, acorns, deer and smaller
mammals provided abundant foods inland.
The Kashaya Pomo excelled in the art
of basket making. They wove intricate
containers of wooly sedge grass and bulrush
roots, redwood bark, willow and redbud
branches. The baskets were used for cooking
and storing food, trapping fish or animals,
toys, cradles, gifts and ceremonies. Some
baskets were colored with wild walnut juice
and berries and decorated with beads,
quills or feathers. One prized feather came
from the red spot on a red-winged blackbird.
The Kashaya bartered with the neighboring
Coast Miwok, who lived south of the
Russian River near Bodega Bay. Kashaya
first encountered non-native people when
Russians came to Metini.
Russians in North America
Beginning in 1742, promyshlenniki (Russian
serfs or native Siberian contract workers)
began to leave the Siberian mainland by
ship to seek fur-bearing marine mammals on
and near the many islands to the east.
In 1784 Gregory Shelikov built the
first permanent Russian settlement on
Kodiak Island, in what is now Alaska. The
organization he led became the RussianAmerican Company in 1799, when Tsar
Paul granted the company a charter giving
it monopoly over all Russian enterprises
in North America. The Russian-American
Company established colonies from Kodiak
Island to Sitka in present-day Alaska, as well
as in Hawaii.
The operation expanded when American
ship captains contracted with the RussianAmerican Company for joint ventures,
using native Alaskans to hunt sea otters
along the coast of Alta and Baja California.
Otter pelts were highly valued in trade with
China, and large profits flowed to company
shareholders, including members of
Russian nobility.
The Russian-American Company’s chief
manager, Alexander Baranov, sent his
assistant, Ivan Kuskov, to locate a California
site that could serve as a trading base.
Kuskov arrived in Bodega Bay on the ship
Kodiak in January of 1809 and remained until
late August. He and his party of 40 Russians
and 150 Alaskans explored the entire region,
taking more than 2,000 sea otter pelts back
to Alaska.
Artifacts of settlement life
Kuskov returned to California to establish
a Russian outpost at Metini, 18 miles north
of Bodega Bay. The site had plentiful water,
forage and pasture, and a nearby supply of
coast redwood for construction. The village’s
relative inaccessibility from the Spanishoccupied territory to the south also gave the
settlers a defensive advantage.
In 1812 Kuskov brought 25 Russians and
80 Alaskans to build houses and a stockade.
They established a colony to grow wheat
and other crops for Russians living in Alaska,
to hunt marine mammals, and to trade with
Spanish Alta California.
On August 13, 1812, the colony was
formally dedicated and renamed “Ross”
to honor its connection with Imperial
Russia — or Rossiia. The colonists called
Ivan Kuskov,
first manager of Fort Ross
their new home Fortress
Ross or Settlement Ross.
Life at the Ross Colony
The newcomers built
redwood structures and
a wooden stockade with
two cannon‑fortified
blockhouses on the
northwest and southeast
corners. A well in
the center of the fort
provided water. The
interior contained the
manager’s two‑story
house, the clerks’
quarters, artisans’
workshops, and Russian
officials’ barracks. In the
mid-1820s, the chapel
was built.
Outside the stockade to the northwest,
lower-ranking employees and people of
mixed ancestry gradually established a
village, and to the southwest the native
Alaskans lived in another village on a bluff
above a small cove.
One surviving original structure at Fort
Ross is the Rotchev House, an 1836 building
renovated in 1838 and named for Alexander
Rotchev, the last manager of Ross, who
lived there with his wife Elena. Several
other buildings have been
reconstructed: the first Russian
Orthodox chapel south of Alaska,
the stockade, and five other
buildings — the first manager’s
home (Kuskov House), the
Officials’ Barracks, a Fur
Russian flag over the Rotchev House
Warehouse (or magazin) and
two blockhouses.
Only a small number of Russian men
and fewer Russian women are believed
to have lived at Ross. The settlement was
multicultural for at least thirty years — with
native Siberians, Alaskans, Hawaiians,
Californians, and individuals of mixed
European and Native American ancestry.
In addition to farming and hunting sea
mammals, Ross colony industries included
blacksmithing, tanning, brickmaking, barrel
making and shipbuilding. The first ship
built in California, Rumiantsev, was
completed in 1818.
By 1820 the marine mammal population
was depleted from over-hunting by the
Americans, Spanish and Russians. The
Russian-American Company subsequently
introduced hunting moratoriums on seals
and otters, establishing the first marinemammal conservation laws in the Pacific.
Russians contributed greatly to
California’s scientific knowledge. Their
voyages expanded the study of geography,
cartography, ethnography, geology,
meteorology, hydrography, botany and
biology. Results gained from Russian
voyages brought about many early charts
of California’s north coast.
In 1840 Russian naturalist and artist Ilya
Voznesenskii spent a year at Ross, gathering
specimens of California’s flora and fauna. He
also collected native California artifacts, such
as the acclaimed Kashaya Pomo baskets.
Many of these specimens are displayed
today in the Peter the Great Museum (the
Kunstkamera) in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Post-Russian Period
In December 1841, the Russian-American
Company sold its Fort Ross holdings to John
Sutter. Sutter sent his trusted assistant, John
Bidwell, to gather up the Ross hardware,
cattle, sheep and other animals and
transport them to the Sacramento valley,
where Sutter had built his own fort.
William Otto Benitz arrived to manage
Fort Ross for Sutter in 1843. Subsequent
owners sold to George W. Call in 1873. Call
established the 8,000-acre Call Ranch and
exported cordwood, railroad ties, fence
posts, tanbark, apples and dairy products
well into the 20th century. Workers loaded
cargo onto vessels anchored at the wharf
in the sheltered cove below using a cargo
chute. The Calls owned the ranch property
until 1973.
In 1903 the California Historical
Landmarks Committee
purchased the Ross
stockade area from the
Call family; the State of
California acquired the
site in 1906.
California State
Parks has done
extensive restoration
and reconstruction
while adding
acreage to preserve
the surrounding
environment. The
refurbished Rotchev
House has been
listed in the National
Register of
Historic Places.
Great blue heron
NATURAL HISTORY
Fort Ross is located on a wave-cut marine
terrace between the ocean to the southwest
and high, forested hills to the northeast.
Steep bluffs drop several hundred feet into
the sea to the southeast. Below the fort,
sheltered Sandy Cove features a serene
beach and still waters. Fort Ross Creek flows
over two miles to Sandy Cove.
Redwood and coniferous forests,
grasslands, scrub, and coastal strand make
up the park’s four distinct vegetation types.
The upland slopes are covered in Bishop
pine and Douglas-fir while the coastal shelf
is open grassland. Protected hollows and
ravines shelter old- and second-growth
stands of redwood trees.
Diverse wildlife species live at Fort
Ross. Visitors may encounter gray foxes,
black-tailed hares, mountain lions and
bobcats. Marine mammals include harbor
seals, sea lions and migrating gray whales.
Birdwatchers may find osprey, red-tailed
and red-shouldered hawks, kestrels, herons
and other shore birds.
INTERPRETIVE PROGRAMS
Interpretive presentations and educational
programs are offered. Cultural Heritage Day
is held annually in July. School groups may
participate in “living history” Environmental
Living Programs, taking participants back
to the early 1800s. For more information,
please call (707) 847-4777 or visit the
website at www.fortrossstatepark.org.
Settlement Ross, 1841 by I.G. Voznesenskii
Diving — Certified scuba divers can explore
the wreck of the S.S. Pomona, a ship that
sank more than 100 years ago off Fort Ross
Cove. Dive and swim at your own risk.
Always dive with a buddy and exercise
caution in the ocean.
Hazardous rip currents and large waves
can appear out of nowhere and sweep
unsuspecting visitors out to sea. Never
turn your back to the waves. No lifeguards
are on duty.
Camping — Reef Campground has 21
primitive sites (first-come, first-served) with
flush toilets but no showers. For campground
status, call (707) 847-3437.
Russian-American Company Cemetery
RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Picnicking — Tables are located near the
Visitor Center, the Call Ranch House, in
the historic compound, and at Sandy
Cove beach.
Trails — Pedestrian trails lead to Sandy Cove
beach from the Reef Campground, the fort
compound and from the Russian-American
Company Cemetery.
Fishing — Abalone and rockfish abound in
the coastal waters in season.
Anglers aged 16 and over must possess a
valid California fishing license. All abalone
divers must adhere to current legal limits
and carry a current Abalone Report Card.
See www.wildlife.ca.gov.
ACCESSIBLE FEATURES
Parking, fort buildings, the visitor center and
picnic area are fully accessible. Paved trails
lead to the windmill and the fort. Walkways
within the stockade are ADA-accessible. A
beach wheelchair may be borrowed. For
updated information, visit the website at
http://access.parks.ca.gov.
NEARBY STATE PARKS
• Salt Point State Park/Kruse Rhododendron
State Natural Reserve (SNR), 8 miles north
at 25050 Hwy. 1, Jenner 95450
(707) 847-3221
• Sonoma Coast State Park, 14 miles south
at 3095 Hwy. 1, Bodega Bay 94923
(707) 875-3483
• Armstrong Redwoods SNR/Austin Creek
State Recreation Area, 17000 Armstrong
Woods Rd. Guerneville 95446
(707) 869-2015
PLEASE REMEMBER
• Park grounds open ½ hour before sunrise
and close ½ hour after sunset. Visit the
website for current operating hours.
• Stay on designated trails to protect plants,
prevent erosion and avoid poison oak.
• Except for service animals, dogs are
allowed only in the main parking area,
service road and campground. All pets
must be on a six-foot-maximum leash
at all times and be confined to a tent or
vehicle at night.
• Alcoholic beverages are allowed only in
the campsites. Fires and glass containers
are not allowed on the beach.
• Natural and cultural resources are
protected and may not be disturbed or
removed.
Ridgetop view of the redwoods and ocean
to
Visitor Bridge Name
Center
1
F O RT R O S S
VISITORS AREA
0
60
12
00
Fort Ross
Trail to Fort
d
w R
10
00
avie
400
Se
State Historic Park
Northwest
Blockhouse
P
Chapel
800
Kuskov
House
Magazin
0
Well
Monterey
00
10
0
00
80
60
Grove
0
S
A
F O RT R O S S
0
140
0
Windmill
25
N
lch
Gu
R
ss
Legend
Ro
or
t
Russia
Sp
M
A
Fo
E
800
ey
600
rin
rt
g
R
Major Road
s
os
Rd
s
Gr
Accessible Trail
ad
e
Fort R
Fo
rt
Campground
Ro
Call
Ranch
House
RussianAmerican
Company
Cemetery
Visitor Center
Water Faucet
800
Reef
Campground
© 2008 (Rev. 2014) California State Parks
Map by Eureka Cartography, Berkeley, CA
l
Gu
lch
0
60
0.8 Kilometers
Restrooms
1000
0
0.5 Miles
0.4
Picnic Area
40
0.25
0
ek
1200
U N D E RWATE R PARK
0
Park Building
14
1
Sandy
Cove
Parking
P
00
Cre
P
Fort Ross
Cove
SS Pomona
Shipwreck
Northwest
Cape
600
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0
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detail
map
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Bridge
Orchard
80
Sea Lion
Rocks
0
100
12
0
200
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wa
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Accessible Feature
800
T
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Co
as
Underwater Park
U
0
Trail
14
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Stanley Spyra
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Grove
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20
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Rd
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Windermere
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Paved road
12
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1400
40
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120
0
R
PA R K
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N
40
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Timber
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24
Mt. Tamalpais
SP
SAN
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101
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880
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This park receives support in part
through a nonprofit organization.
For information, contact:
Fort Ross Conservancy
19005 Highway 1, Jenner, CA 95450
(707) 847-3437 • www.fortross.org
T
im
be
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r
80
C o a s t Hig
20
0
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0
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N
20
San Pablo
Bay
Fo
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N
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10
20 Mi
Suisun
Bay
CI
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OC
0
10
37
PA
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C
Farallon
Islands
Napa
Ross
Gulch
hw
FI
Point
Reyes
12
C
CI
Samuel P.
Taylor SP
0
O
Point
Reyes
NS
PA
101
20
Lake
Berryessa
29
Annadel
SP
600
el
1
Bodega
Bay
Day-Use Area
Sugarloaf
Ridge SP
Jew
Sonoma
Coast SP
Santa
Rosa
sG
Rd
116
y er
de
Fort Ross SHP
Jenner
0
0
60
Healdsburg
ra
Salt Point
SP
Southeast
Blockhouse
to Sandy Cove
and Cemetery
to Fort
Ross Cove
S TAT E H I S T O R I C
A
400
to Fort Ross
50 Meters
d
200
to Salt Point SP,
Mendocino
200 Feet
100
0
Rotchev
House
Officials’
Quarters
Call Ranch
House
Cypress
14
00
12
60
40
0
1
1
to Jenner,
San Francisco