Changes

With the departure of the Ross colonists in 1842, the fort and its chapel came under the care of successive owners. In the spring of 1897, Bishop [[Nicholas (Ziorov) of Warsaw|Nicholas]], Fr. [[Sebastian (Dabovich)|Sebastian Dabovich]], and reader Paul Grepachevsky visited Fort Ross, and were dismayed at the condition the sacred sites were in, noting that they couldn't enter the chapel since it was now used as a barn and that only "insignificant remains" of the cemetery were to be found. In 1903, the two and a half acres comprising the fort, chapel and other buildings were sold to the California Historical Landmarks League, which deeded the property to the State of California in 1906. In 1905, eight years after the visit by Bishop Nicholas and company to Fort Ross, Bishop [[Tikhon of Moscow]] and Fr. Theodore Pashkovsky (the future [[Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco|Metropolitan Theophilus]] visited, and according to them, the situation at the fort had improved, noting, for instance, on the "cleanliness of the chapel". Also in 1906, the great San Andreas fault earthquake occurred severely damaging the buildings in the area of the old colony. The San Andreas fault passes very close to Fort Ross. During the following years these buildings, including the chapel, were restored. The area passed to the administration of the California Parks and Recreation Department that now controls the use of the fort. The area of the Fort Ross Historic Park has through the twentieth century been enlarged to 3,277 acres as of 1992.