The Maritime Cultural Landscape of California’s Sonoma Coast Doghole Ports

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Maritime Transportation, History, and War in the 19th-Century Americas" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

For thousands of years along California’s Redwood Coast, human’s interaction with the sea has shaped their lives and society. During the mid-19th to early 20th century, they utilized the natural resources of the Redwood Coast and established a complex network of doghole ports to ship products to San Francisco and around the world. California State Parks and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries conducted a maritime cultural landscape survey in 2016 and 2017 along the Sonoma Coast. The survey integrated the study of submerged and terrestrial archaeological resources to reveal the Sonoma Coast’s maritime cultural landscape of 14 doghole ports, including Fort Ross Landing that became one of the shipping centers of northern California. From upland lumbering and ranching operations to doghole ports and shipwrecks, Fort Ross’ unique maritime cultural landscape is still evident today and demonstrates people’s successful adaptation to a rugged marine environment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Maritime Transportation, History, and War in the 19th-Century Americas

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 417