Ohlone life meant working together and helping one other. And just like today, Ohlone people had time for singing and dancing, laughing and playing. They had favorite games like stick dice, the hand game, hoop-and-pole, and juggling. Children played “cat’s cradle” using their fingers and toes to make string shapes with names like “stars,” “making daylight come,” “house,” and “deer.” They also competed in marathon-like races and in team sports. Shinny is an Ohlone game similar to field hockey. Just as we go to football and baseball games today, people sometimes traveled from distant villages to

The San Andreas Valley area was once a rich and beautiful landscape of rolling hills and gentle valleys that supported a hugely diverse array of plant and animal species. Its waterways teemed with salmon, steelhead and trout. Before the Crystal Springs Reservoir was created, a creek flowed through the valley into a natural lake just northwest of the Pulgas Water Temple. Native peoples lived successfully and creatively upon this land for over 10,000 years before the San Francisco Bay Area became a bustling center of urban activity. Ohlone people typically built their community villages near a