Fort Ross State Historic Park

Upcoming Events
 
Fort Ross 2012 Bicentennial Public Forum
Tuesday, February 23, 2010   5:30 PM
San Francisco Public Library
Main Branch
Latino Hispanic Community Room
100 Larkin Street (at Grove)
San Francisco

“KRASNAYA GORKA”  ( Красная Горка) means The Red Hill or Beautiful Hill. Fort Ross will celebrate this special event April 10, 2012 at 12:30 to 4:30  -Click here to learn more.

The "Lighting of the First Fire" was held February 12, 2010. We celebrated with Walt's family and friends - and honored the generosity of Walt Pack our benefactor. Please read all about this project and about Walt who has generously donated $20,000 to the park.

Fort Ross 2012 - Bicentennial - is seeking volunteers - Visit the Fort Ross 2012 Website

 

Past Events

Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak Visits Fort Ross SHP
The Russian Ambassador to the Russian Federation to the United States, Mr. Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak, and his wife, Mrs. Kislyak along with the Consul General, Vladimir N. Vinokurov, of the Russian Federation in San Francisco arrived at Fort Ross on Thursday August 27. They were greeted by Ruth Coleman, State Park Director and Liz Burko, Russian River Superintendent.

    

 

Sheila Gwaltney, U.S. Consul General in St. Petersburg 
made a visit to Fort Ross. She was welcomed by the ELP students...

The Congress of Russian Americans (CRA)
The Congress of Russian Americans (CRA) is celebrating its 35 anniversary with many of it's members visiting the United States. Several members from the CRA in Moscow including Mr.Georgyi L'vovich Muradov and Ms. Ludmilla Alexandrovna Egorova made a special visit to Fort Ross. Also joining the festivity was Khalit Aysin of the Russian Consulate, Nikolai Sluchevsky from the Bay Area, George Cheremeteff one of the CRA directors, and more.

Teaching American History
Fort Ross SHP hosted  "Teaching American History "- a Federally funded program to offer educators opportunities to work with colleges and universities, nonprofits, libraries, and museums to learn more about our country's history, culture and democratic traditions. Fort Ross was honored to host this outstanding group of educators for two days July 17 and 18. Over 50 Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma county teachers participated.    All Photos are by Jane "Ungiyak" Applebee.

 

Hawaiian Chieftain Sails with Living History Folks.

On March 29th, over 100 people took part in the first annual sail on the 'Hawaiian Chieftain' and the 'Lady Washington'.  Participants wore mid nineteenth century work or traveling clothes representing the Gold Rush era, the Russian Era, and the Mexican Era.  The topsail ketch Hawaiian Chieftain is a replica of a typical European merchant trader of the turn of the nineteenth century, Her full shape and rigging are similar to those of Spanish explorer's ships used in the expeditions of the late 18th century along the Washington Oregon and California coasts. Built of steel in Hawaii in 1988 and originally designed for cargo trade among the Hawaiian Islands, her design was influenced by the early colonial passenger and coastal packets that carried on coastal trade along the Atlantic coastal cities and town. The brig 'Lady Washington', star of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl also took part in the charter for living history enthusiasts. This brig is a two masted tall ship, which is also the Official Ship of the State of Washington.

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Fort Ross receives S.S. Pomona

On March 17, 1908, at 6:00 PM the S.S. Pomona struck the Monterey Rock south of Fort Ross. The S. S. Pomona was damaged and sank in the cove in front of the Call House, which is part of Fort Ross State Historic Park. Carlos and George Call assisted in the successful rescue of the passengers and provided shelter while transportation was arranged for the passengers.  Thanks to the Calls' heroic efforts, no lives were lost. Indiana University worked with California State Park representatives to perform a collaborative survey of submerged cultural resources at Fort Ross State Historic Park. A particular focus of the survey was the Pomona shipwreck. Some of the items from the ship are housed in our collection at Fort Ross Visitor Center. On March 15th we will commemorate  the 100th Anniversary of the Pomona Shipwreck at Fort Ross (read more by clicking here). 

St. Peter the Aleut was celebrated.   

Viva Concha  - Rose of the Presidio   is based on the true story of the 1806 love affair between San Francisco's Concho Arguello and the famous Russian explorer, Nikolai Rezanov. The staged musical event will showcase the talents of an international cast, and commemorate the 200th Anniversary the celebrated lovers, who have immortalized in poetry, novels, and history books for more than a century. The world premiere showcase is May 5- 7. Please visit their website for tickets and more information.

On April 16, 2006 Bill Walton lead his now famous San Andreas Fault Line Walk and
Talk aptly named “It’s Not My Fault", as we commemorated the April 1906 Earthquake.  Fort Ross State Historic Park felt this devastating earth shake. The earthquake destroyed many of our original buildings. Did you know Fort Ross State Historic Park has the only remaining original off set fence still standing?  The upcoming 100th anniversary provides a unique opportunity to increase public awareness of seismic hazard and promote earthquake preparedness and mitigation. And to explore the ways in which this major natural disaster affected the personal lives, culture, economy and development of Northern California. For more information on this commemorative around the Bay Area, please visit  www.1906centennial.org


We, Debra and Donald Wilkinson, are the couple from Washington D.C. that attended Bill Walton's Easter talk "It's not my fault". Deb and I have done a lot of traveling in our 6 years of marriage and it's normal for her to write a one or two page travelogue after one of our jaunts. ...... Paris was worth 5pages. Disneyworld  rated 7....This time she wrote 12 pages. I'm enclosing the whole document. Bill, Susanna, and Tracey are mentioned by name on page 4. Please tell them that they represented one of the highlights of a  remarkable trip. And thank you all again for a remarkable afternoon.    Don Wilkinson   Read what they submitted to Fort Ross.
 

Robin, Jake, and Sarah recently visited the McNear Brick and Block with Walt Pack, Jeanette, and Frank to learn more about brick making. Learn more about our visit and McNears. Did you know McNear's is the oldest brick yard in California?

Wheat Weaving - A new craft demonstration has been added to Fort Ross State Historic Park. Saturday, March 11 Jan Huss,(READ WHAT JAN HAD TO SAY ABOUT HER TIME WITH US) skilled wheat weaver gave a class in weaving using Turkey Red Wheat which was brought to this country by the Russian community in the 1800’s This wheat can now be found in our Midwest.  Folks in the class spent about 2 hours learning how to weave a framed God’s Eye and a Corn Goddess. In the process they learned about the history of weaving.  “It was a man’s craft” Jan smiled in saying to our one male participant. Of course everyone put a little of their own ideas into their project leading to a variety of final products. We look forward to more weaving being done at Fort Ross. Jan Huss will bring her Ukrainian and Belarusian Straw Art collection to Fort Ross for a show and History Presentation within the next year.

Fort Ross State Historic Park was graced with a $10,000 donation by Walt Pack. The donation will benefit our educational and volunteer programs. Thank you Walt - you are so kind and generous. Please read the whole story with more pictures....  And now the Fort Ross educational and volunteer programs will be getting a new brick fire enclosure to  use in the fort compound. Fort Ross staff is working with several people with interest and knowledge on stoves, masonry work, and Colony brick making.  This project is possible because of the generous donation made by Walt Pack. Please read more about Walt and his gift of $10,000 to Fort Ross State Park. And special thanks to Frank Binney and Jeanette Marie Pontacq.

The Shelikhov Musuem in Irkutsk, Russia will be hosting a conference this summer. Please visit their website for information. Please know this website is in Russian language.

Summer Field School Program and Lecture Series - The Kashaya Pomo Interpretive Trail

Graham Priest, a traveler from England, visited Fort Ross. Here is what he had to say in an article he submitted with a history magazine in England. He writes about muskets and armament during this time period.

Remains of old ship discovered at SF Construction site ..... 
AND  Another article about the same ship...

Kindred Kayakers

Paul McHugh, Chronicle Outdoors Writer, 10/10  Buffeted by wind, shoved by swells, John Weed and I paddled to Fort Ross -- a Russian colonial outpost on the Sonoma County coast, now a state historic park. More pictures...

The Fort Ross Russian Orthodox chapel has a new cross.
By Sarah Gould - Park Interp Staff
Due to large storms along our coast this past year two cross bars on one of the Russian Orthodox crosses had blown off. How do you safely repair a cross on top of a steep, slippery roofed cupola? Thanks to the help from the 
local Fort Ross Cal Trans Maintenance Yard, and Fort Ross State Historic Park  staff members, we were able to safely replace the two cross bars. Maintenance Yard  Supervisor Joe Tomlin, and Cal Trans Tree Crew member John Burgess, a Cal Trans
Bucket Truck, and our own Ranger Walton, the cross was repaired on a gorgeous morning December 26. The repair was completed in time for Epiphany January 6 and the Russian Orthodox Christmas, celebrated on January 7 (on the
old calendar). Before attaching the new cross pieces Ranger Walton took measurements for 2 completely new crosses to eventually be mounted on the chapel. Joe Tomlin and John Burgess have graciously agreed to return with their 
bucket truck when the park is ready to replace both crosses.
 

WINDMILL'S NEW BREATH OF LIFE RUSSIAN EXPERT COMMISSIONED TO MAKE BLUEPRINTS, MODEL FOR USE IN EVENTUAL CONSTRUCTION

 

Long ago at Fort Ross -
over 14 years ago -
a Moscow production company came to Fort Ross
to perform the Operetta 'Avos and Junos'.
Here are two found photos of this event.

  

 

Even longer ago - a group of students went to Siberia to participate in an exchange program - called Global Village. The students went with State Park Senior Archaeologists Breck Parkman and Park Interpreter Sarah Gould - Here is one of those found photos of Lucas Wellman breaking down part of a monument from the Stalin Era.