Samuel P. Taylor State Park

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Samuel P. Taylor State Park is a state park located in Marin County, California. It contains approximately 2,700 acres (11 km²) of redwood and grassland.

[edit] History

The park is named for Samuel Penfield Taylor, who found gold during the California Gold Rush and used some of his money to buy a parcel of land.^[1] In November 1956, Taylor built the Pioneer Paper Mill, the first paper mill on the Pacific Coast.^[2] In the 1870s, the North Pacific Coast Railroad was built between Cazadero and a pier in Sausalito where folks could catch a ferry to San Francisco. The railroad passed near Taylor's mill, and, ever the entrepreneur, he built the "Camp Taylor Resort" alongside the tracks. A destination for city-weary San Franciscans, the resort offered both a hotel and tent camping, as well as swimming, boating, fishing, and a dance pavilion.^[3][4]

Taylor died on January 22, 1886, and his family lost the mill and resort in the Panic of 1893.^[3] However, a 1910 newspaper advertisement for the "Camp Taylor Resort," touting its dance pavilion and on-site grocery and butcher, indicates that the resort continued to operate.^[5] The mill burned down in 1916, and in 1945 the State of California took possession of the property for non-payment of taxes.^[3]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ California State Parks. "Samuel P. Taylor State Park" (accessed June 4, 2006).
2. ^ California Office of Historic Preservation. "California Historical Landmarks: Marin" (accessed June 4, 2006). See No. 552, Pioneer Paper Mill.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Dierke, James S. "Samuel Penfield Taylor: Forty-niner, Timber Tycoon, Freemason." The Scottish Rite Journal, August 1999 (accessed June 4, 2006).
4. ^ Kent, Anne T. "Camp Taylor Photo Album: Camp Taylor in 1889" (accessed June 4, 2006).
5. ^ Oakland (CA) Tribune, "Camp Taylor Resort" (advertisement), July 30, 1910.