History
The word Petaluma, may derive from the Miwok words pe’ta, flat, and luma, back. The Miwok people lived in Sonoma County for more than 2500 years. Petaluma was the name of a village on a low hill east of Petaluma creek and north east of the present day town of Petaluma. The first recorded exploration of the Petaluma River was by Captain Fernando Quiros in October, 1776. While other members of his Spanish expedition collected adobe and timber for the new Presidio of San Francisco and for the Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores), Quiros and his sailors tried unsuccessfully to sail from San Pablo Bay to Bodega Bay.
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