Ferry Point is a cape on the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

in western

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, California, United States. Once the

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

terminal for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the area has been developed as a regional park.

History

Ferry Point once served as the western terminus of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, who constructed the pier in 1900 to facilitate

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

docking to transfer passengers and freight to other locations around the San Francisco Bay. Santa Fe trains began connecting with SP ferries at the

Oakland Mole The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific Railr ...

on April 23, 1933, replacing the Point Richmond passenger ferries. Ferry Point continued to be used for freight ferries, as well as troop ferries during World War II. The Port of Richmond gradually replaced Ferry Point, as the port could handle larger freighters. Freight ferries stopped using Ferry Point in 1975, making it the longest-lived of the transcontinental railroad wharves on the bay. The East Bay Regional Park District acquired the railroad right of way in 1991 and the land was incorporated into the

Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline is a bayside park near the Brickyard Cove, Richmond, California, Brickyard Cove neighborhood of the Point Richmond, Richmond, California, Point Richmond District in Richmond, California. Overview The park is center ...

. Ferry Point was initially named Point Richmond, but the area adopted a new descriptor after the nearby neighborhood became more associated with that moniker.

References

Geography of Richmond, California Ferry terminals in the San Francisco Bay Area Former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway stations Former railway stations in California {{coord, 37.909415, -122.390578, display=title