Fort Ross State Historic Park preserves the southernmost Russian settlement in North America, established in 1812 on the Sonoma Coast near Jenner, California. Built by the Russian-American Company on ancestral Kashia Pomo lands, the fort functioned as a thriving multi-cultural settlement until 1841. The 3,400-acre park features reconstructed structures including a Russian Orthodox chapel, stockade walls, and historic buildings set amid sandy coves and redwood forests. Visitors can enjoy hiking, fishing, tide pooling, whale watching, and guided tours that illuminate the fort's unique Russian colonial heritage and California's early history.
