[Leica] Fort Ross State Park

[leica_r8 at hotmail.com (Aram Langhans)]

I love this park.  Been there three times, the last two on cloudy days.  The 
best time because you can really capture the mood of the northern California 
Coast then. It is the site of an old Russian settlement and fort, well 
preserved and maintained mostly by volunteers of the Fort Ross Society, with 
a little help from the state of California.

Here is a collection of 14 photos from the fort and one just north of the 
fort.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s6/nc/fr/

I?ll point out a few:
There was a group of school children there for a field trip.  They were 
decked out on period garb and were doing tasks that people would have done 
in the fort.  I got there just as they were finishing up, so only got to see 
a few of the marching about as they were returning their arms to the armory. 
 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s6/nc/fr/Fort+Ross++-9029.jpg.html

This shows the setting of the fort in the low hills along the coast.  The 
building is the chapel, which is still used from time to time.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s6/nc/fr/Fort+Ross++-9040.jpg.html
Interior:  
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s6/nc/fr/Fort+Ross++-9058.jpg.html

The buildings have exhibits of period implements that are similar to what 
was probably at the fort.  Most are static exhibits, but some are used at 
various times, like the armory.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s6/nc/fr/Fort+Ross++-9043.jpg.html

Just to the south is the Russian cemetery with many crosses still visible.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s6/nc/fr/Fort+Ross++-9089.jpg.html

There is a large Russian community still in the area that supports and helps 
out at the fort, and the docent was explaining how even the Russian Embassy 
in San Francisco is active in preserving the history of this Russian 
outpost. 

We were camping north of the park, and on our way down to the park there 
were three people sitting on a porch outside a store by a little cove.  I 
had said I had wished I had stopped to take their photo.  Well, many hours 
later on our return to the campground they were still there with friend.  
So, I did stop and earned a bit about the history of the store and the 
pirate who robbed it way back when.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s6/nc/fr/Ocean+Cove+Store-9093.jpg.html

Comments welcome.  View them large if you can.

Aram


Aram Langhans
(Semi) Retired Science Teacher
& Unemployed photographer

?The Human Genome Project has proved Darwin more right than Darwin himself 
would ever have dared dream.? James D. Watson