About 200 years ago, Oak Creek provided fresh water and abundant plant material and wildlife for food and shelter to Native peoples in the East Bay. Houses were built with willow frames and thatched with bunch grasses or tule, while elderberry trees provided material for flutes as well as food and medicine. Seeds, acorns, and buckeye seeds were gathered and ground into meal, and entire families worked together in the fall harvest, collecting acorns in large conical baskets. Native people used fire to manage seed growth, encourage young shoots for deer, and produce straight stalks for basketry, reflecting a deep respect for nature and a way of life based on the plentiful foods available. When the Spanish first settled in the Bay Area in 1776, three tribes lived in the San Ramon Valley: the Tatcan of Danville and north San Ramon, who spoke Bay Miwok; the Souyen of the Dougherty Valley area; and the Seunen of Dublin and south San Ramon, who spoke Ohlone/Costanoan. These tribal groups consisted of several villages of 40 to 250 people, and there was likely a small village of Seuyen people where Forest Home Farms is located.