We spent the night at the Inn at the Tides-- an absolutely gorgeous little hotel.
We had a great room with our own little patio where Libi found cows in the pasture next to us in the morning.
Included in the room rate was a breakfast at their restaurant across the street which was right on the bay. While we enjoyed yummy eggs we got to bird watch and Libi took some great bird shots!
Our first site for the day was in Bodega,
St. Teresa's Church (CHL 820). It was Sunday and there were services going on inside so we had to be quick with our photos.
This is yet another church constructed of redwood.
It was built by shipbuilders in 1859 and is the oldest continuously operating church in Sonoma County.
An interesting note: the congregation outgrew the church, but they loved their building so instead of demolishing it or starting over the cut the church in half and extended it in the middle. Genius!!
This next site was our first Marin County one for the day and it took a little hiking to get to it-- the
Pioneer Paper Mill (CHL 552). Thanks to the park rangers and
Bill Beaver blog we were able to locate it.
This was the first paper mill built on the Pacific Coast-- it was built in 1856 by Samuel Penfield Taylor. Legend has it that when Samuel came to California from New York his first business was to sell bacon and eggs on the beach-- before he made his fortune in the gold rush.
He was an innovator who used recycled materials such as rags and old paper collected from surrounding towns to make his paper-- way ahead of his time!
This next site has no plaque and no site-- Lime Kilns (CHL 222). These kilns were built by the Russians during their occupation of Sonoma County (which is strange because it is in Marin County). They used the kilns to make whitewash their buildings, to tan hides, or manufacture bricks.
Moving on to yet another plaque-less site, the
Site of the Lighter Wharf at Bolinas (CHL 221). In the early 1850's a wharf was built here to transport lumber out into the ships waiting in the bay.
The Marin County history page does have a photo of what the wharf looked like:
A gorgeous but windy road around south Marin County brought us to...
Tiburon to catch a ferry to our next destination...
and we could see another CHL from the boat that is listed in both San Francisco and Marin Counties--
Golden Gate Bridge (CHL 974). Since we have already done this from the south side and driven across it we didn't go to the vista point on the north side, but we are counting it as being complete from both vantage points.
While on the ferry we took some family photos with the beautiful backdrop of the San Francisco Bay.
A short ferry ride brought us to
Angel Island (CHL 529).
Angel Island has served many purposes--
It was first discovered by the Spanish in 1775. Lieutenant Juan Manual de Ayala named the island Isla de los Angeles.
During the Civil War a military base was established on the island called Camp Reynolds.
During WWI the island served as a dispatch point for lots of soldiers. In the cold war Nike missiles were placed on the island.
Probably Angel Islands most famous role came from 1910 to 1940 when it was an immigration station to enter to US from the west. Sadly many Chinese were kept here for months, a few for more than a year, while they proved their identity.
As we left the island we found the most cleverly named boat-- see if you can figure it out!
We drove to Mill Valley, the fictional home of Dr. BJ Honeycutt from one of my favorite shows of all-time MASH. Once we entered the little town we came to the First Sawmill in Marin County (CHL 207).
John Reed was given a land grant by the Governor of Alta California and he built the first sawmill in the county. The wood he milled was used to built the presidio across the bay in San Francisco.
It wouldn't be an adventure if we didn't crash a wedding-- and today we crashed another wedding to visit the Outdoor Art Club (CHL 922).
The building was designed by architect Bernard Maybeck who was famous for his creative use of materials.
Sadly due to the wedding we didn't get to see the actual building which apparently has a really cool roof. Happily they do have a tour on their website, so if you click
here you can see what we didn't.
According to their website:
The Outdoor Art Club is a private, nonprofit women's organization which was formed in 1902. Our mission is "To preserve the natural scenery of Mill Valley and the surrounding country, to beautify the grounds around public buildings, to work against the wanton destruction of birds and game, to encourage the development of outdoor art and to engage in other civic, literary and charitable work."
Well done women of Mill Valley!
A short drive brought us to a really cool building, which now houses a restaurant and offices-- the Green Brae Brick Kiln (CHL 917).
From the state:
This brick kiln on the San Quentin Peninsula is the only surviving structure of the Remillard Brick Company, once the largest brick manufacturer on the Pacific Coast. During its 103 years of operation, its bricks were used to rebuild Ghirardelli Square, the Palace Hotel, and other San Francisco structures after the 1906 earthquake.
I did find on one site that some of the laborers were from San Quentin Prison, who later led a major prison escape-- but I can't confirm that. It sounds like the plot for a movie though!
We finally got to a mission-- only to find that it has super limited hours. Therefore all of our
Mission San Rafael Archangel (CHL 220) photos are from the outside.
This was the 20th mission built in the chain of missions.
It was originally constructed as a hospital asistencia, but was raised to mission status in 1822.
Since we couldn't get in we just got a few outside shots... the only plaque on the grounds,
the obligatory picture with Fr. Serra,
and Libi took a selfie with a sign that looks like a state plaque.
A short drive to Fairfax led us to trespass to find a site-- we don't love it when that happens.
On the bright side we did get really close to two deer...
and one of them posed for us.
The Home of Lord Charles Snowden Fairfax (CHL 679) was supposed to be on the grounds of a country club. This area looked nothing like a country club-- it was in the yard of a very run down home on the back of an archway.
Fairfax was an interesting fellow-- born on a plantation in Virginia he moved west to find his fortune in the gold rush. He had no success in the gold fields so he became a politician instead. He served in several offices in California including Speaker of the Assembly and Clerk of the State Supreme Court. He and his bride visited a friend in Marin County and loved their property-- who gifted it to them as a wedding gift. Here they were known for their entertaining, lavish gardens, and exotic birds-- they named the property Bird's Nest Glen (which is what it says on the plaque). This site is also famous for being the site of the final duel in California.
Our next site was also closed for the day, but we were still able to get some good photos AND find the plaque!
The Marin County Civic Center (CHL 999) was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright toward the end of his career.
These two adjacent buildings-- an administrative center and a hall of justice-- have the distinction of being the only government buildings designed by Wright that were actually constructed!
In keeping with his organic architectural philosophy-- the buildings were designed to blend into the hills and surrounding landscape.
It looks like an awesome building to explore...
we want to return when we can explore.
However we did get a few shots that exemplify Wright's idea that the buildings "melt into the sunburnt hills".
Our final stop of the day was
China Camp (CHL 924).
This Chinese fishing village is a really cool place to spend some time.
It is famous for being one of the earliest and largest Chinese fishing villages as well as the last Chinese shrimp fishing village in California.
The plaque is up above the actual camp site.
Once you hike or drive down a hill you come to the actual camp-- where many of the buildings have been preserved.
This is an oven for shrimp drying-- afterward these dried shrimp were exported to China and around the world.
The Chinese immigrants who lived here introduced using commercial fishing netting to catch the bay shrimp.
While you can't walk along the small pier, it is easy to imagine it being used to launch small boats to head out into the bay.
There are lots of informational signs...
and a sweet little beach to soak your tootsies!
Ron took some sweet photos of Libi while she enjoyed a few moments of alone time-- we only children like to have some uninterrupted alone time!
After playing ball with a little boy on the beach and taking one more photo of the homes that the fishermen lived in we were off for dinner...
and dessert at a little local ice cream shop.
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