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Pierce Point Ranch

Pierce Point Ranch

Highlight • Historical Site

Pierce Point Ranch

Name: Pierce Point Ranch
Rating: 2

Recommended by 11 hikers

This Highlight is in a protected area

Please check local regulations for: Phillip Burton Wilderness

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Location: Marin County, California, United States

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Best Hikes to Pierce Point Ranch

4.8

(17)

296

hikers

1. Tomales Point (Pierce Point) — Point Reyes National Seashore

15.1km

04:13

300m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

4.7

(3)

hikers

2. Pierce Point Ranch – Tomales Point Trail loop from Bodega Bay

6.68km

01:49

100m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

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3. Pierce Point Ranch – Tomales Point Trail loop from Bloomfield

3.39km

00:53

30m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

Tips

Vincent Reboul

June 18, 2022

Founded in 1858, the Pierce Ranch was the largest of the four independent ranches on the Point Reyes Peninsula. Go to the visitor center to find out about the Tulle Elk. Endemic to the peninsula, you can spot herds during the hike.

Wanderhase🐰

December 29, 2022

Established in 1858, Pierce Ranch (aka Pierce Point Ranch) was the largest of four independent ranches on the the Point Reyes peninsula in the late 1800s. The Shafter brothers sold a 2,200-acre tract of land on the end of Tomales Point to Solomon Pierce for $7,000 in 1858. Pierce Ranch excelled in the production of the finest quality of butter, as indicated by Goldberg, Bowen, and Company—a famous San Francisco fine food purveyor—which purchased the entire butter production of Pierce Point Ranch during late 1800s. The Point Reyes region ranches were, as a group, considered to be the best dairy ranches among the 300 in the state as of 1900, and Pierce Ranch was at the top among the Point Reyes ranches in the quality of its product. In recognition of its importance, it was written up in 1878 and again in 1880 as an outstanding example of a dairy ranch.

The Pierce Ranch ceased operations in 1973. Beginning in 1980, the National Park Service invested in the rehabilitation of the ranch core, citing it as the best example of a west Marin dairy ranch from the 1800s. Among the many ranches of the Point Reyes peninsula and of the nearby Olema Valley, Pierce Ranch is the one with the greatest degree of integrity of early buildings in its physical complex. Pierce Ranch is probably the least altered, least modernized, physical complex of ranch buildings in the area. Part of the ranch's main house dates to 1856, making it the oldest surviving ranch house in the Point Reyes region, if not in the whole coastal section of Marin County. Pierce Point Ranch was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and was subsequently opened to the public as an interpretive site.

Visitors are welcome to walk through the ranch complex, where interpretive signs describe the history and function of the various buildings. Historic features include the main house, a schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, barns, dairy houses, and many other structures.

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Details

Informations

Elevation 90 m

Weather

Today

Saturday 25 October

18°C

10°C

82 %

If you start your activity now...

Max wind speed: 13.0 km/h

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Location: Marin County, California, United States

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Pierce Point Ranch

1. Tomales Point (Pierce Point) — Point Reyes National Seashore

2. Pierce Point Ranch – Tomales Point Trail loop from Bodega Bay

3. Pierce Point Ranch – Tomales Point Trail loop from Bloomfield

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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