Historical Marker · No. 833
Bodega Bay and Harbor
Bodega Bay, Sonoma County · California
Erected by State Department of Parks and Recreation, the Westerners and Sonoma County Parks and Recreation, 1970
The bronze lists the ships that anchored here and skips the bay's own people and its nearest miss. This is Coast Miwok shoreline, and the company's Aleut hunters, as the plaque calls them, were Alutiiq and Unangan men brought south for sea otters. In 1958 PG&E set out to build a nuclear plant on Bodega Head, almost on the San Andreas Fault. Rancher Rose Gaffney, residents and scientists fought it until the company gave up in October 1964. Its foundation pit, the Hole in the Head, is now a pond.
What the plaque says
Bodega Bay and Harbor Discovered in 1602-03 by the expedition of Vizcaino. It was named by Bodega in his survey of 1775. The harbor was used in 1790 by Colnett and by the Kusov expeditions in 1809 and 1811. The Russian-American Company and their Aleut hunters used the bay as an outpost until 1841. Stephen Smith took control in 1843. Pioneer ships of many nations used Bodega Bay as an anchorage. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 833 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Westerners and Sonoma County Parks and Recreation. May 24, 1970
Where it stands
38.31133, -123.05112 · Directions
More markers nearby
- St. Teresa's Church — 4.9 mi
- Cooper's Sawmill — 15 mi
- Fort Ross — 18 mi
- Walters Ranch Hop Kiln — 18 mi