Point Isabel (cape)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Point Isabel is a cape in the city of Richmond in Contra Costa County, California on San Francisco Bay.[1]

It lies along the Richmond Inner Harbor 1.7 miles east of Brooks Island and 1.5 miles south of Flemming Point.[2]

In the 19th Century, it was part of the Rancho San Pablo owned by Don Victór Castro who received it in a land grant from the Mexican Republic.[3] He named the point for his daughter Isabel. In later years, the land was acquired by the Du Pont subsidiary Vigoret Powder Works of San Francisco, which used it primarily to store explosives.[3] A wharf and railroad spur served the Vigoret site.[3] In recent years, part of the land was acquired by the East Bay Regional Parks District for its Point Isabel Regional Shoreline dog park, and also by the California state park system for its Eastshore State Park. The remains of at least two ancient Native American shell mounds are visible just offshore in the Albany Mudflats wetlands on the southern shore.[3] The promontory once featured a hill much higher than today's elevation.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Map, Topozone, retrieved 2007-08-01
  2. ^ USGS
  3. ^ a b c d Point Isabel, El Cerrito Historical Society, retrieved 2007-08-01