Among Marin’s many outdoor treasures and beloved open spaces, Samuel P. Taylor State Park is a gem for recreation and camping. As we ease into springtime, with creeks flowing and flowers blooming, consider a trip to this park full of trails, wildlife and history.
In many ways Samuel P. Taylor State Park is a living history of Marin County. While it officially opened in 1946, people have been coming to “Camp Taylor” for over a century. Before then, the indigenous Coast Miwok lived here, with a legacy dating back at least 3,000 years.
Today Samuel P. Taylor State Park welcomes about 135,000 visitors a year. Some come to stay at the campground, others to picnic in the redwoods or to hike and view wildlife: Depending on the season, you can spot everything from gray foxes to owls to coho salmon here.
Campsites and cabins offer ready access to the park’s towering redwoods and Lagunitas Creek, which is currently between phases of a habitat improvement project for aquatic species. The watershed houses one of the largest remaining populations of coho in Northern California, and monitoring of the current spawning season puts their numbers at the highest in 20 years.
A significant change came to the park exactly three years ago, when one of its few remaining old growth redwoods collapsed in a March 2022 fire. The Pioneer Tree, which was 800 years old and stood about 200 feet tall, had been able to withstand previous fires but ultimately fell after being fully engulfed by flames.
Kourtney Boone, a state park interpreter with California State Parks’ Bay Area District, said community members continue to honor the Pioneer Tree by visiting it, reading poetry and observing moments of silence. And in the tree’s absence, Boone noted, new vegetation is growing.
“We have yet to conduct an official survey of plant life post tree fall,” wrote Boone over email, “but due to the tree succumbing to fire, the nutrient release from the tree is rapid.”
These nutrients, plus increased sunlight from the gaps in the tree canopy, have let new vegetation thrive in the area. And the Pioneer Tree hasn’t disappeared just yet. From its roots baby redwoods with identical DNA are sprouting — a phenomenon called “stump sprouting,” which is typical for coast redwoods.
Construction for a boardwalk at the site of the fallen tree is also in the works, along with new benches and the improvement of interpretive panels.
The park’s fire and new growth serve as a reminder that it’s not the first time Samuel P. Taylor has faced jeopardy only to rise from the ashes. In 2011, the area was among 70 parks in California slated for closure due to state budget cuts. Fortunately, the National Park Service stepped in with funds to offset expenses, ensuring the park’s survival and maybe even strengthening its long-term prospects.
In fact, the full story of Samuel P. Taylor State Park — one of California’s first recreational camping sites and a pivotal place of industry during Marin County’s earliest years — dates to the Gold Rush days. In 1849, it was the tantalizing prospect of riches that compelled the entrepreneurial Samuel Penfield Taylor to sail from his home in New York for San Francisco Bay. After a few successful years of panning for gold and a stint running a lumberyard, he purchased 100 acres of land where the park sits today and followed in his father’s footsteps by building a paper mill in 1856. The Pioneer Paper Mill Company was the first of its kind on the West Coast, and brisk business spawned a community that became the town of Taylorville.
Despite being the namesake for one of Marin’s most gorgeous expanses of nature, Taylor was hardly an environmentalist. As San Anselmo historian Judy Coy noted in a comprehensive biography of him, a dam built by S.P. Taylor & Co. on Daniels Creek led a jury to find Taylor guilty of failing to install a fishway. In 1882 he was fined $50.39, but apparently continued to let his operations obstruct fish from traveling upstream. It wasn’t until 1888, two years after his death, that the Marin Journal mentioned installation of a “first class fish ladder” at Taylorville Dam. Taylor was also suspected of dumping chemicals and refuse into the creek; a lawsuit was filed, but a judge ruled in Taylor’s favor.
Coy’s research yields other fascinating details about Taylor’s life. For one, he was not, as some have suggested, a descendant of George Taylor, the Pennsylvania politician best known as a signer of the Declaration of Independence. And Taylor’s wife, Sarah Washington Irving Taylor, most likely had no blood relation to the famed Legend of Sleepy Hollow author for whom she may have been named.
Together, Coy and co-author George H. Stevens discovered a wealth of knowledge on the lineage of both Taylor and Sarah Irving, creating an impressively full picture of the lives of two renowned Marin pioneers.
At its peak, Taylor’s paper mill provided newsprint for local publications like the Daily Alta California, the San Francisco Morning Call and the Daily Evening Bulletin. His business operations later helped ensure that the North Pacific Coast Railroad had a line running west to Tomales Bay, and at various points in his life he owned a broom factory in San Francisco and served on the board of directors of the Mechanics Institute.
The proximity of Taylor’s land to San Francisco — along with its staggering beauty and nature amenities — compelled a number of city dwellers to venture out for respites from urban living. In 1878, the Bohemian Club held its inaugural outdoor “jinks” there, while a Daily Evening Bulletin ad from 1879 calls Camp Taylor “the most beautiful resort in the state.”
While Marinites historically have gone to great lengths to protect local parks, one way we can help preserve Samuel P. Taylor for future generations is simply to go there — help kids discover the magic of watching a salmon spawn or the joy of eating a sandwich beside a gurgling creek.
Plan Your Next Park Adventure
There’s so much to do at Samuel P. Taylor:
- Campsites and cabins (Campgrounds on the Creekside Loop reopen this month after seasonal closure)
- Regular Fungi Friday guided walks
- Trails, including the wheelchair-accessible South Creek Trail
- Salmon spawning viewable in Lagunitas Creek through late spring
- Hikes up Mount Barnabe