Rockville Hills
Bedrock Mortar Sites
(Solano County)

Rockville Hills was the site of a large Southern Patwin village that the Spanish called the Suisun rancheria, but the Patwins called YulYul. Here also is where in the 1860s pioneer Samuel Martin built a stone house that today is known as Stonedene mansion, and nearby is Rockville Hills County Park. Although the bedrock mortars here are closed to the public, there are still things to see in the park. The parking lot for the park is at 2149 Rockville Road in Fairfield, and the Stonedene Mansion, which is private, is nearby at 4015 Suisun Valley Road. The park parking lot is the trailhead for hikes to see some of the sites featured below. The park website has more information.

 

 
Rockville Hills Sites (Village of Suisun)
Martin House (Stonedene Mansion) site (private property - no public access allowed)
This site is a stone slab, and nearby isolated outcrop with over 90 bedrock mortars. The site is in a fenced-in lot behind the historic Stonedene mansion (Samuel Martin House), which is presently used as an office by a development company. However, the lot with the mortars, so far as we know, is owned either by the City of Fairfield or by a non-profit group. There is presently no public access, but there were plans at one time to make the site a historic park with a museum, so it may open up to the public in the future (see Low, 1996 for more information).


38.236000, -122.127400
 
(The photo to the left from the Bay Area Native Sites website shows the slab several years ago when it was freshly cleared of dirt and grass.)
Rockville Bluffs Petroglyphs (private property - no public access allowed)
A petroglyph panel located somewhere in the Rockville area. Some attribute this panel to Suisun Indians, but it is more likely the work two Algonquin Indians who were part of an expedition led by John C. Fremont that in 1843 passed through the area. The petroglyphs are severely worn from people making paper and chalk rubbings on the soft volcanic rock.

38.248477, -122.132553
 
(photographs by Rodney Rulofson)
Rockville Hills Regional Park (open to the public)
There are a couple of trail guides that claim there are bedrock mortars here. However, all you are likely to find are gas pockets that formed in volcanic rocks (lower right photo) when the rocks were first born and in a semi-molten state. There is a rain water basin (left photo) with a rusty red stain that some might claim was made by Native Americans grinding up manzanita berries, but we don't buy it. We think the red is just a natural iron-oxide coating and not man-made.

38.245330, -122.140869 (left photo)
38.249883, -122.138322 (right photo)

 

 

 

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