Point Reyes Station (formerly, Marin and Olema Station) is a small unincorporated town in western

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. Point Reyes Station is located south-southeast of Tomales, at an elevation of . Point Reyes Station is located along State Route 1 and is a gateway to the

Point Reyes National Seashore Point Reyes National Seashore is a park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as an important nature preserve. Some existing agricult ...

, an extremely popular national preserve. The Point Reyes Station

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) covers the unincorporated town and adjacent development to the north, with a total population of 895 as of the 2020 census.

Geography

Point Reyes Station is located at , just south and east of the southern end of

Tomales Bay Tomales Bay is a long, narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean in Marin County in northern California in the United States. It is approximately long and averages nearly wide, effectively separating the Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland of Mar ...

, and slightly east of the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...

just before the fault submerges down the center of Tomales Bay. Via State Route 1, it is northwest of

Stinson Beach Stinson Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, on the west coast of the United States. Stinson Beach is located east-southeast of Bolinas, at an elevation of . The population of the St ...

and southeast of Tomales.

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

is to the southeast via Point Reyes–Petaluma Road, Nicasio Valley Road, and Lucas Valley Road. Formerly an actual port and railway terminus, Point Reyes Station nominally borders Tomales Bay; the introduction of European cattle and planting of European grass seed on the natural hills caused destructive erosion, and a combination of small dirt dams, silting, and intentional landfill for farming raised the level of former salt marshes and has left Point Reyes Station approximately from the nearest tidal flats, and that after expenditure of millions of dollars and recent efforts for reclamation of the natural environment. The CDP has a total area of , all land.

History

Once land of the

Coast Miwok Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second-largest group of Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point ...

Indians, Point Reyes Station gets its name from the nearby

Point Reyes Peninsula Point Reyes (, meaning "Point of the Kings") is a prominent cape and popular Northern California tourist destination on the Pacific coast. Located in Marin County, it is approximately west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often applied ...

(a major peninsula sticking out into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

) and its status as a terminus stop on the

North Pacific Coast Railroad The North Pacific Coast Railroad (NPC) was a common carrier narrow-gauge steam railroad begun in 1874 and sold in 1902 to new owners who renamed it the North Shore Railroad (California) (NSR) and which rebuilt the southern section into a standar ...

connecting Cazadero to the

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...

ferry. Point Reyes Station is very close to the

, which was responsible for the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

. At one time, the epicenter of the quake was thought to be near Olema. A walking tour of the fault can be taken from the Point Reyes National Seashore's Visitor Center. The place was called "Olema Station" when the railroad arrived in 1875. The Point Reyes post office opened in 1882. Its name changed thrice in 1891: first to Marin, then back to Point Reyes, and finally to the modern Point Reyes Station.

Demographics

Prayer flags at Spirit Matters Store in Point Reyes, California

The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

reported that Point Reyes Station had a population of 848. The population density was . The racial makeup of Point Reyes Station was 725 (85.5%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 7 (0.8%)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 3 (0.4%) Native American, 10 (1.2%)

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 73 (8.6%) from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 30 (3.5%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 155 persons (18.3%). The Census reported that 100% of the population lived in households. There were 412 households, out of which 87 (21.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 168 (40.8%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 19 (4.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 21 (5.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 19 (4.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 4 (1.0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 172 households (41.7%) were made up of individuals, and 90 (21.8%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06. There were 208

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

(50.5% of all households); the average family size was 2.84. The population was spread out, with 155 people (18.3%) under the age of 18, 48 people (5.7%) aged 18 to 24, 152 people (17.9%) aged 25 to 44, 299 people (35.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 194 people (22.9%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 51.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 81.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.4 males. There were 490 housing units at an average density of , of which 50.2% were owner-occupied and 49.8% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.8%. 50.6% of the population lived in owner-occupied housing units and 49.4% lived in rental housing units. Point Reyes-Petaluma Road View

Economy

A number of agricultural companies, many using

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

and

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

practices, are located there, including

Cowgirl Creamery Cowgirl Creamery is a company located in Point Reyes Station, California, which manufactures artisan cheeses. Founded in 1994, the company manufactures its own cheeses and sells other imported and domestic cheese and fine artisan foods. Its own ...

and

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company is an artisanal cheese company located in Point Reyes Station in Marin County, California with dairy farmland located in the Point Reyes area. The company received the 2013 California Leopold Conservation Award ...

Marin Organic Marin Organic is a non-profit 501(c)(3) association of Organic farming, organic producers headquartered in Point Reyes Station, California. Founded in 1999 with the goal of creating the first all-organic county,

operates out of the city.

References

External links