These archaeological findings received such widespread attention that the lake was at one time alternatively known as Charmstone Lake. Some of these artifacts are situated in a small museum on site, and a number of them are within the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Museum. Evidence suggests that these stones were brought from distant parts of California and as far away as Mexico for a ritual in which the native threw the stone into Tolay Lake, with the belief that this act rid the thrower of affliction or disease or would invoke enhanced crop yields. One of the main bases for this knowledge is the discovery of many prehistoric charmstones and numerous arrowheads in the lake bed. It is known that this has been a regional gathering place for diverse tribes, probably associated with the beliefs that healing powers were derived from this lake. Another modern alteration is the construction of an east-west earthen causeway that effectively bisects the lake, impeding thorough water circulation and fragmenting plant and animal colonies of the lake.ĭrystone bridge circa 1900 over Cardoza Creek in the Tolay Lake watershed.ĭating to at least 4,000 years, habitation of the original Tolay Lake perimeter occurred on a seasonal basis by the Coast Miwok, Pomo and other native Californians.

Tolay Lake was initially altered about 1850 by European settlers who dynamited a natural earth dam on the lake's south side, in order to enable more intensive agricultural cultivation and grazing of the basin at times thereafter, the lake typically became almost dry in the summer months, when rainfall in this region is at its seasonal nadir. Tolay Lake and its immediate drainage area is home to several nesting pairs of golden eagles, Aquila chrysaetos, and a number of rare, threatened or endangered species including the California red-legged frog, Rana draytonii Western pond turtle, Actinemys marmorata and Western burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia. In 2005, Sonoma County acquired the entirety of the lake and virtually its whole drainage basin from the Cardoza family for the sum of $18 million the County's intention is to utilize the property as Tolay Lake Regional Park for ecological and archaeological preservation, as well as public use and enjoyment. The lake, nestled within the southern vestiges of the Sonoma Mountains, is the site of significant Native American prehistoric seasonal settlement. Tolay Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in southern Sonoma County, California, United States.

Pomo charmstone