Point Reyes

Point Reyes, the prominent cape and peninsula west-northwest of San Francisco, is both a striking coastal landscape and a place layered with history. Long before European arrival, the Coast Miwok lived across the peninsula in numerous encampments, sustained by rich marine and plant resources, until missionization and disease devastated their communities. European explorers renamed the point during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and the surrounding coast became linked to Sir Francis Drake’s landing and the wreck of the San Agustin. In the Mexican and early American periods, ranching, disputed land grants, and litigation reshaped ownership. Much of the area is now protected within Point Reyes National Seashore.

California · United States