Buildings making up the old Pierce Point Ranch in Marin County are now on the National Register of Historic Places. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Ranches are one of the last things I think about when it comes to the coast. To, me, they are supposed to be in the middle of California, not on the edge.

But that belief is so very wrong. Coastal communities have a rich history of various types of agriculture.

Established in 1858, Pierce Point Ranch in Marin County is no longer in operation. It is, however, on the National Register of Historic Places.

While this site is dormant, so to speak, ranching still takes place in this area.

Only the old barn is open for viewing, other buildings with information posted out front are there for those who are interested. This is all at the start of the Tomales Point trailhead. Today, the historic ranch it managed by the National Park Service, as it is part of the Point Reyes National Seashore.

Of course it was not the Pierce’s land to begin with.

Signage does not mention any Indian tribe involved with the land. James Berry is the first owner listed on signs at the ranch. The Mexican citizen in the 1820s established what was known as Rancho Punta de los Reyes Sobrante. Later, land disputes would become the norm during the Gold Rush. Mexicans were often on the losing end.

“The Shafter brothers, lawyers involved in theses suits, came to own over 50,000 acres on the peninsula, including land along Tomales Bay,” reads one marker. “In 1858, they sold 2,200 acres to Solomon Pierce, and the Pierce Ranch became the only peninsula dairy not operated by the Shafter dynasty.”

Milking back then was done in the warmer months, unlike today where production is year-round. The original 300 stalls for milking made it one of the largest barns in the area.

“Twice a day cows would be brought in and locked by wood stanchions to the feed troughs while being milked. An expert milker could milk 20 to 30 cows during his two hour shift,” a sign says.

Marin County once produced the most amount of butter of any county in the state. In 1867, 932,429 pounds of butter were produced here.

It’s been years since a cow has seen the inside of this barn. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

“To make the butter, the fresh milk was poured into shallow pans and sat in the cool of the creamery for up to 36 hours. Beginning at 3 a.m., skilled dairymen skimmed the cream off the top, and poured it into horse-powered churns. Churning took 20 to 40 minutes, producing as much as 300 pounds at once,” a sign says. “An ounce of salt per pound of butter was added. The leftover skimmed milk was fed to the hogs.”

California is still the No. 1 butter producing state, with 32.5 percent of the country’s butter coming from here in 2022, according to California Agricultural Statistics Review.

Today, visitors can also see the old one-room schoolhouse which operated until 1932, when another school was built in the area.

“In the early 1900s one teacher taught first through eighth grades reading, writing, arithmetic, history and geography. Older students sat at the back, and the privy was outside,” a sign says. “Fishermen’s children living in the many gulches near the ranch also attended, walking narrow trails every day to reach the school, or taking a boat across the bay and hiking up to the ranch. The teacher lived with a local family and, in documents from 1916, it was recorded she was paid $70 per month.”

Also standing on the property are the ranch house, blacksmith building, bunk house, and hay barn.

The ranch changed hands in 1932 when John and Dorothy McClure bought it. In 1945 it switched from a dairy farm to a cattle ranch.

“McClures Beach, a short walk from the ranch, is named for this family. Margaret McClure donated the beach and a portion of the nearby bluffs for parkland in the 1940s. Point Reyes National Seashore was established in 1962,” a sign says.