Gualala Arts Lecture Series presents:
Fort Ross 2012 Bicentennial

with Robin Joy
Thursday, March 8, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Admission is $5

In 1812, on a stretch of the Pacific Ocean eighty miles north of San Francisco, Russian explorers established Colony Ross, Russia's deepest vanguard into North America. Colony Ross was settled to establish trade relations with the Spanish in California, produce food to support the Russian settlements in Alaska, as well as to expand the valuable sea otter trade.

Although the Russian American Company stayed for just three decades, their contributions to early California society were vast - they built California's first ships and windmills, introduced glass-paneled windows, created the first brickyard, catalogued the local flora and fauna, completed detailed maps and were, by today's standards, among California's earliest entrepreneurs. Fort Ross is an excellent example of the best of California and what it has to offer the world: a rich history, diverse cultural legacy, beautiful nature and dedicated people.

Robin Joy, Park Interpretive Specialist and Bicentennial Chair of Fort Ross State Historic Park, will discuss the events and programs of 2012 as well as present basic history of Fort Ross and Russian American history of the Sonoma coast.

For more information, visit www.fortross2012.org.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.