Friends of the Carrillo Adobe is a community-based, non-profit organization (501c3) formed to advocate for the preservation, protection, and stewardship of the Maria Carrillo Adobe. The group is dedicated to raising awareness of the site’s historical, cultural, and archaeological significance and to supporting efforts that ensure its long-term preservation.
Friends of the Carrillo Adobe works collaboratively with Tribal representatives, preservation professionals, historians, archaeologists, local agencies, and the broader community to promote responsible preservation, stabilization of the adobe ruins, protection of associated archaeological resources, and respectful public education. The organization is committed to safeguarding this irreplaceable cultural landscape so that it may continue to convey the layered histories and shared heritage of Santa Rosa for future generations.
A Place of Deep Time, Layered History, and Shared Heritage
The Maria Carrillo Adobe is one of Santa Rosa’s most important historic and archaeological places. Located along the south bank of Santa Rosa Creek, the property preserves the physical remains of a 19th-century adobe residence and an associated Native American village that was occupied for thousands of years before—and during—the early historic period.
Constructed in 1838–1839 as a residence for Doña Maria Carrillo and her family, the adobe represents the first non-Native permanent building in the Santa Rosa Valley. It marks a pivotal moment in the region’s history, when long-established Indigenous lifeways intersected with Californio settlement and the early foundations of what would become the City of Santa Rosa.
Although the adobe building now survives as ruins, it retains substantial and evocative historic fabric. Standing adobe walls, doorways, window openings, and stone foundations remain in place, clearly conveying the original form and construction of the building. Together with the adjacent Native American village site, these features tell a powerful, layered story of continuity, adaptation, and cultural exchange across millennia.
The Maria Carrillo Adobe is formally recognized for its historical significance. The site is listed in the California Register of Historical Resources. The property is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated City of Santa Rosa Landmark No. 3 (Resolution CHB-11, November 19, 1988), reflecting its importance to local, regional, and state history.
Today, the future of this irreplaceable cultural landscape is uncertain. Proposed plans to construct a high-density development on the property threaten the historic integrity of the adobe and the associated archaeological site. Without proactive preservation, stabilization, and protection, the physical remains and the broader cultural landscape that give this place meaning risk being permanently compromised.
The Maria Carrillo Adobe stands not only as a reminder of Santa Rosa’s origins, but as a shared heritage site where Indigenous history, early settlement, and community identity converge—worthy of thoughtful stewardship and long-term preservation.
