Bolinas and Stinson Beach

Images of America: California

by The Bolinas Museum, Stinson Beach Historical Society

This is the story of two small towns, Bolinas and Stinson Beach, and the body of water that separates and joins them. Although San Francisco's packed urban skyline is visible from its shores, this part of West Marin is isolated in spirit and in fact. For thousands of years the territory of the Coast Miwok Indians, this land became the six-mile-long Briones Mexican land grant, a ranch that lasted less than a decade before being overrun with entrepreneurs, farmers, and failed gold miners. The towns that they built have been visited by earthquake, shipwreck, forest fires, ranchers, rumrunners, bohemians, and the National Park Service, and all of these have shaped their story. While Bolinas maintained its spirit of isolation, removing the road sign that might beckon visitors, Stinson Beach grew from a tent camp for urban refugees to a favorite coastal beach town visited by millions annually.

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2004

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

The rise of what were small, isolated communities with a few dominant families.

[Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history of Bolinas was fascinating, as far as it went. Unfortunately, it cut out right as it was getting interesting. I want to know about the history of the area post-1960. How have the people living there changed in recent decades? Why do they steal the sign into town? What do people do for a living, if few of them drive over the hill every day -- or has that changed?

As much as I hate to admit it, the 60s and 70s are consigned to history now. They could have easily been included here.

Also there is one scant mention of the Bolinas Cemetery. Are any of the old Mexican landowners buried there? Gregorio Briones, who received the land grant, was or is buried at Mission San Francisco, but what about his family and ranch hands? Guess I'm going to have to go find out myself.