As you look across the Napa Valley from Cobb Mountain in the north to the San Pablo Bay consider the deep human history under your feet. For thousands of years, California’s first artisans, doctors, botanists, musicians, farmers, and fishermen traveled between villages along trade routes across the land to share goods and knowlege. These paths became some of the main roadways we use across Napa County today including parts of highways 12, 128 and 29.

Ikalikhi Mi means “welcome” in Yukian, the oldest among the over one hundred distinct languages once spoken in California. Yukian is the language of the Mishewal, Mutistul, Mayakamah and Lileek. Called “guapo” (outspoken) by the Spanish, this name became Wappo when mis-pronounced by the English. Linguists, archeologists, and oral histories indicate the Wappo were the First Peoples of the Napa Valley, continuously inhabiting and tending this place for over 10,000 years.

Archeological records and oral histories show the Patwin and Coast Miwok lived in southern Napa Valley beginning about 3000 BCE. Patwin villages included Napato, Suscol and Tulucay.

The word Patwin means “people” in the Wintun language and comprises several distinct groups with different dialects and cultures including River, Hill, and Southern Patwin.

For many hundreds of generations the people of the Napa Valley cultivated the land, ensuring plants, trees, waterways, and animals were tended to maintain ecological balance and sustain life.

In a short period, especially in the late 19th century, Indigenous communities across California were destroyed through disease, forced assimilation and state-sanctioned genocide.

Ecosystems across the state also collapsed in the absence of the ancient caretakers of the land. But due to the resilience of the Wappo, Patwin and other nations, work is under way to restore natural habitats through the incorporation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.