For thousands of years, this region was home to groups of Indigenous people, now collectively known as the Ohlone. The Ohlone made bread and porridge from acorns and grass seeds, which they ground into flour at milling stations like these boulders. Over generations, the grinding process wore deep holes, or mortars, into the rock. During the estate period, these boulders were moved from an unknown location and used as a landscaping element.
Land Acknowledgement
Midpen respectfully acknowledges that its open space preserves are part of the ancestral lands of the Ramaytush-, Tamien-, and Awaswas-speaking people from (north to south) Aramai, Chiguan, Lamchin, Cotegen, Puichon, Olpen, Tamien, Oljon, Partasci, Ritosci, Quiroste, Achistaca and Chaloctaca.
Today these tribal groups are comprised of diverse descendant individuals, families, communities and tribal governments who all have their own stories to tell.
We acknowledge and give our respect to the Indigenous peoples connected to and who have lived on this land past, present and future.
Today, within Midpen’s jurisdictional boundary, there are 10 state-recognized tribes (as identified by the Native American Heritage Commission) that represent groups of individuals, families, or many hundreds of people in a tribal government and each has their own story to tell. Additionally, there are descendants who are not associated with a state-recognized tribe.