Nicasio, California

Rancho Nicasio was a Mexican land grant of 56,807 acres (230 km2) granted to the Coast Miwok indigenous people in 1835, located in the present-day Marin County, California, a tract of land that stretched from San Geronimo to Tomales Bay. Today, Nicasio, California is at the heart of this location.

Samuel P. Taylor State Park is a state park located in Marin County, California, United States, which includes approximately 2,700 acres (11 km2) of redwood forest and grassland. The park contains about 600 acres (2.4 km2) of old-growth forest, some of which can be seen along the Pioneer Tree Trail.

Marin County ( mə-RIN; Spanish: Condado de Marín) is 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 across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, and is included in the San Francisco–Oakland–Berkeley, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Marin County's natural sites include the Muir Woods redwood forest, the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, the Point Reyes National Seashore, and Mount Tamalpais. Marin is one of the highest-income counties by per capita income and median household income. The county is governed by the Marin County Board of Supervisors. The Marin County Civic Center was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and draws thousands of visitors a year to guided tours of its arch and atrium design. In 1994, a new county jail facility was embedded into the hillside nearby.The United States' oldest cross country running event, the Dipsea Race, takes place annually in Marin County, attracting thousands of athletes. Modern mountain biking has many early origins on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin.San Quentin State Prison is located in the county.

Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is a census-designated place, composed of two unincorporated areas in the western half of the San Geronimo Valley in Marin County, California. It is located to the west of San Geronimo and Woodacre. The population was 1,924 at the 2020 census.The two towns are locally seen as separate. Geographically divided by narrow points in the San Geronimo Valley, each has its own small commercial center. Both towns are primarily residential. The ZIP code of Lagunitas is 94938, while the ZIP code of Forest Knolls is 94933.

Forest Knolls is an unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It is located 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Novato, at an elevation of 249 feet (76 m). For census purposes, Forest Knolls is aggregated with Lagunitas into the census-designated place Lagunitas-Forest Knolls. The first post office at Forest Knolls opened in 1916. Forest Knolls' ZIP Code is 94933.There are a number of small historical businesses in Forest Knolls such as the Papermill Creek Saloon.

San Geronimo Valley is located in Marin County, California, composed of four unincorporated towns: Woodacre, San Geronimo, Forest Knolls, and Lagunitas. It is a fairly close-knit community, with a rather liberal citizenry. The farther west one goes along the valley, the more forested the land becomes. The valley is bisected roughly east-to-west by Sir Francis Drake Boulevard; a number of streets in the towns along this road were constructed on the former right-of-way of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. The valley has numerous hiking/biking trails. Most of the residents reside on the south, shadier, side of the valley. The San Geronimo Valley derives its name from the San Geronimo Ranch, established by Adolph Mailliard and Ann Eliza Ward in 1868, where they bred thoroughbred horses, including the famous stallion Monday, who sired most of the race horses in California. The Valley is part of the Lagunitas School District, unique in that it operates two alternative elementary programs and a traditional middle school program on two connected campuses with one superintendent, one principal, and one school board. Each elementary program (Open Classroom, Montessori-inspired) has its own unique philosophy and pedagogical methods, all working within the framework of the California professional and academic standards. Each program involves parent participation to some degree. The main businesses in the Valley are the Papermill Saloon in Forest Knolls, Arti Cafe, The Pump Espresso, Woodacre Market and Deli, and the Lagunitas Grocery, though there are numerous others. Woodacre is home to Spirit Rock Meditation Center, dedicated to the teachings of Buddha and Vipasannā mediation; Dickson Ranch, and the Marin County Fire Department headquarters. San Geronimo Valley also comprises the greater part of the Lagunitas Watershed, in which some of the last remaining coho salmon spawn. The San Geronimo Valley Community Center, attached to the school district, is a hub for community events and hosts the local food bank.

Barnabe Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of California. It is located in Marin County.

Taylorville is a former settlement in Marin County, California. It was located on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad 11 miles (18 km) west-southwest of downtown Novato, at an elevation of 141 feet (43 m). Taylorville still appeared on maps as of 1914.Taylorville had a post office, a tannery, a gun powder factory, a water-powered paper mill, then later a steam-driven mill. An orchard, cattle ranch and was serviced by train from 1875 until 1933. Cap Taylor, on the same property had a hotel, a dance hall, two bowling alleys, boating on the creek, hunting and fishing. As many as 3000 people would visit on popular weekends. The name honors Samuel P. Taylor, founder of the first paper mill on the West Coast.

Jewell was an unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It was located 11 miles (18 km) west-southwest of Novato.In the 1860s, the site was a dairy and pig farm owned by Omar Jewell. When the Northwestern Pacific Railroad was built nearby, Jewell sold a right-of-way across his land and a flagstop called Jewells was set up on the ranch. In the 1930s, a strip of land between Lagunitas Creek and the Sir Francis Drake Highway was subdivided into small lots where city dwellers built weekend cottages. The settlement became known as Jewell because it lay opposite of the Jewell train flagstop.The National Park Service bought the community alongside the creek and removed the few remaining residents. In 2018 an environmental group tore down the cluster of houses and began to restore the creek to improve the habitat for endangered coho salmon.

Samuel Penfield Taylor (October 9, 1827, in Saugerties, New York – January 22, 1886, in San Francisco, California) was an entrepreneur who made his fortune during the California Gold Rush. He is best known for building the Pioneer Paper Mill, the first paper mill in California. Taylor sailed from Boston Harbor in a schooner that he purchased with a group of friends, arriving in San Francisco ten months later.Taylor's first business in California was a bacon and egg stand on the beach. "Upon arrival Taylor found a wooden cask of eggs floating near the shore. He cooked the eggs, overturned the cask, and set up a food stand on the beach." In 1853, Taylor left for Hawkins Bar, California, in Tuolumne County to prospect for gold. He used his profits to buy land in Marin County and enter the paper business.Samuel Taylor was ahead of his time in producing recycled paper products from rags and old papers that his employees collected from various California cities and in creating the first fish ladder on the West Coast to help fish swim upstream around the dam near his paper mill. Taylor married Sarah Washington Irving, raised a family of seven boys and one girl, and served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Working with other concerned citizens, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor helped stop the importation of Chinese slave girls into San Francisco. After Samuel Taylor's death in 1886, his wife lost the paper mill and land around it in the Panic of 1893. The new owners of the Taylors' land (who refused to allow Sarah Taylor to be buried next to her husband on the family plot) lost the property themselves when it was taken by the State of California in 1945 for non-payment of taxes. The state then created Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Taylor is buried on a hill overlooking the former site of the mill. His gravesite was restored in 1997 by Freemasons of San Francisco Oriental Lodge No. 144. Sarah Washington Irving now lies next to her husband on the southwest slope of Barnabe Mountain (near 38.0263°N 122.732°W / 38.0263; -122.732).

San Geronimo (Spanish: San Gerónimo, meaning "St. Jerome") is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the San Geronimo Valley in Marin County, California in the United States. San Geronimo is bordered by Lagunitas-Forest Knolls to its west and Woodacre to its east. It is 8 miles (13 km) southwest of downtown Novato at an elevation of 292 feet (89 m). The population was 510 at the 2020 census.