About Us

  Katuktu or Red Hill, small but prominent, has been a part of our local history for many, many years.  Native Americans used it as a guide in their travels and they often camped at its foot.  They believed that their ancestors, the very first people, had been camping on Katuktu when a great flood submerged the world.  Because the campsite was elevated, the people were saved from destruction and Katuktu became an almost sacred spot for these early people of California.

   Around 1825, in California’s Spanish and Mexican period, maps show a small hill on the Camino Viejo running along the foothills of the Santa Ana mountains. The hill was called "Sierra de las Ranas" at that time and served as a landmark for travelers going up and down the coast of California.  It could be seen by land and by sea.  During this period, the hill determined the eastern boundary of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana and the northern corner of Rancho San Joaquin. 
  The Native Americans believed that the campfires of their forefathers had burned the rocks until they became a coppery color; scientifically, the color of the rocks is due to cinnabar, a form of mercury sulfide.  The color is so striking it caused the early settlers from New England, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, who came to the area at the end of the Spanish period, to call it "Red Hill," as it is known today.  

   The hill stands 347 feet above sea level and lies just north of La Colina and east of Newport in Tustin. 

It is Registered State Landmark #203. 

Katuktu Chapter, NSDAR, was organized November 15, 1967, by Mrs. Sydney J. Graham, Organizing Regent. It was confirmed December 7, 1967, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

California State Society Daughters of the American Revolution