Petrified Forest (California) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Petrified Forest |
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"The Giant" at the Petrified Forest
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| Location | Sonoma County, California, United States |
| Nearest city | Calistoga, California |
| Area | 845 acres |
| Open | Year around |
| Status | Open |
| Petrified Forest | |
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| Official name: Petrified Forest | |
| Designated | January 31, 1978 |
| Reference no. | 915 |
The Petrified Forest is a special place in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is home to trees that have turned into stone over millions of years. This forest is the only one of its kind in California from the Pliocene period. It also has some of the biggest petrified trees in the world! After being damaged by fires in 2017, the forest has been fixed up and is now open for everyone to visit.
Contents
How the Forest Turned to Stone
A Volcanic Blast Long Ago
About 3.4 million years ago, a huge volcano called Mount St. Helena erupted. This eruption caused the trees in the area to start turning into stone. This amazing process took thousands of years to finish.
Redwood Trees Inland
In 2012, a scientist named Diane Erwin from the University of California, Berkeley, studied the petrified forest. She found that these ancient redwood trees once grew further inland. Today, most redwood trees grow closer to the coast. The Palynological Society, a group that studies ancient plant life, calls this forest "one of the finest examples in the world of an ancient forest."
Discovering the Petrified Forest
The First Discoveries
A scientist named Othniel Charles Marsh found the petrified forest in 1870. He figured out that the stone trees were Sequoia langsdorfii. This type of tree belongs to the Sequoia family, just like the giant redwood trees we see today. There is even one petrified pine tree in the forest!
A Famous Visitor
A well-known writer named Robert Louis Stevenson visited the forest. He wrote about it in his book The Silverado Squatters, which came out in 1883.
The Forest Today
A Family's Care
Since the early 1900s, the same family from Calistoga has taken care of the Petrified Forest. Ollie Orre Bockee bought the forest around 1912 for $14,000. She kept buying more land until the forest covered 845 acres.
Opening to Visitors
Ollie Bockee opened the forest to tourists around 1914. People could visit for 50 cents each. When she passed away in 1950, her sister took over. Today, Ollie Bockee's family members still look after this special place.
A Historical Landmark
On January 31, 1978, the Petrified Forest was named a California Historical Landmark. This means it is an important historical site in California. In 2012, the family started sending tiny fossilized pollen samples from the forest to the University of California, Berkeley for research.
Famous Trees
Many of the petrified trees in the forest have fun nicknames. One huge tree is called The Queen. It is 8 feet wide and 65 feet long! The Queen was already 2,000 years old when the volcano erupted. Other famous trees include The Pit Tree and The Giant. There is also a group of trees named after Ollie Orre Bockee and one named after Robert Louis Stevenson.
