Existing comment:
We ask visitors to please stay off the rock out of respect for its importance to the Nisenan people's heritage.
Grandmother Rock:
"Our people say this rock is as old as time, and if you knew how to listen, she would speak of how the Earth was formed. She might reminisce of the thousands of years the women would father at this very site and grind their acorns. They would sit atop and fill the chaw-se, the mortar holes, with whole acorns. Then they would start to pound and grind the nutmeat into a fine powder. Al the while, they would sing songs to the rhythm of the pounding.
"She would tell of the babies that were held in cradleboards while the women worked, of the laughter and energy of the children playing just below, and of the men setting their nets across the river to catch fish. These were the Nisenan and Miwok, meaning, 'The People.' "
-- Kimberly ShiningStar Petree, El Dorado Miwok |