Point Reyes National Seashore: How this National Treasure Came to be a Popular Destination in West Marin 

Fall is ideal in West Marin. Some will say that the town of Point Reyes Station — with its engaging bookstore; shops named Vita Collage, Zuma and Toby’s Feed Barn; and delicious dining spots like The Farmer’s Wife, Station House Cafe and Side Street Kitchen — is like visiting a foreign land that speaks English. And the history of the surrounding area is equally intriguing. Nearly 90 years ago, the U.S. government showed interest in the Point Reyes peninsula becoming a national park. Then in 1958, Marin Congressman Clem Miller introduced legislation creating Point Reyes National Seashore, which President John F. Kennedy signed in 1962. Tragically, within a month, Miller died in a plane crash and it soon became obvious that the purchasing of Point Reyes was drastically underfunded. Enter Marin Supervisor Peter Behr, who with Miller’s widow Katherine collected more than 450,000 petition signatures (twice Marin’s population at the time) urging adequate funding be made available. Soon California Governor Ronald Reagan joined the effort and in 1972, President Richard M. Nixon completed the purchase.

Point Reyes National Seashore, which cost $56 million, now encompasses 71,000 scenic acres with 80 miles of seashore and 150 miles of hiking trails. The photo at right is of Bear Valley Trail, one of the park’s most popular trails, which weaves for eight shaded and level miles along Bear Valley Creek from the park’s visitor center to the Pacific Ocean. Many buildings in today’s park headquarters are holdovers from the erstwhile Bear Valley Ranch. From 1943 to 1949, Eugene Compton ran the ranch as a dairy farm, often staging rodeos in the arena.