Marin County, California

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.

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.

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).

Tocaloma (Miwok: Tokoloma, meaning "salamander") is an unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It is located on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad 3 miles (4.8 km) east-southeast of Point Reyes Station, at an elevation of 75 feet (23 m). By vehicle, it is near the McIsaac's ranch on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard just east of the ascent to the ridge before Olema. A post office operated at Tocaloma from 1891 to 1919.

Rancho Tomales y Baulines was a 9,468-acre (38.32 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Marin County, California, given in 1836 by Governor Nicolás Gutiérrez to Rafael Garcia. The grant extended south from Point Reyes Station along the Olema Valley and encompassed present day Olema and Garcia.

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

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.

Nicasio Reservoir is a shallow, artificial reservoir in the Nicasio Valley region of Marin County, California, United States. It covers 845 acres (3.42 km2) and sits in a 35.9 square miles (93 km2) drainage basin. It was created by the construction of Seeger Dam on the Nicasio Creek in 1961 (1961). Seeger Dam is a 115-foot (35 m) tall, 400-foot (120 m) long earthen dam owned by the Marin Municipal Water District.

West Marin is the largest rural region of Marin County, California. The West Marin Chamber of Commerce includes seven unincorporated communities in its definition of West Marin: Point Reyes Station, Olema, Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Tomales, Dillon Beach, and Inverness. West Marin is generally considered to be west of Muir Beach and Nicasio on the Pacific Ocean side of Mount Tamalpais. The Point Reyes Light is a weekly newspaper covering West Marin, and the website of the Marin Independent Journal has a category for West Marin news. And KWMR is their public radio station. Unlike the rest of the county, which is served by Golden Gate Transit, West Marin is served only by Marin Transit, which connects to Golden Gate Transit lines at Marin City and in the San Geronimo Valley, among other locations. The Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, active since the 1970s, focuses on environmental issues such as preserving open space and protecting vulnerable species. The Straus Family Creamery is just north of Marshall.

Nicasio Creek is an 11.9-mile-long (19.2 km) stream in Marin County, California, United States and is the primary tributary of Lagunitas Creek, which flows, in turn, into Tomales Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. The Nicasio Reservoir, formed in 1961 by Seeger Dam, is located on this stream.

Nicasio ( nih-KAH-see-oh; Spanish for "Nicasius") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. It is located 8 miles (13 km) west-southwest of Novato, at an elevation of 194 feet (59 m). As of the 2020 census the CDP population was 81, while population estimates for the surrounding area range from about 600 to about 900 people.Within Nicasio and the surrounding area are about 250 homes located on approximately 350 parcels. Much of the land is still used for agricultural purposes including beef and dairy cattle grazing, small-scale truck farming (including organic farming), and the raising of forage. Several small vineyards have also been recently established. Next to Rancho Nicasio within the town of Nicasio is an organic farm, AllStar Organics, owned and operated by Janet Brown and Marty Jacobson; Janet is the vice-president of Marin Organic, Marin County's non-profit organic association. Just north of Nicasio Reservoir is Fairlea Ranch, where pedigree longhorn cattle are raised. The most significant non-agricultural business within Nicasio is George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch, a part of Lucasfilm Ltd. According to a 2004 Forbes magazine real estate survey, Nicasio is the 23rd most expensive ZIP code in the US. Nicasio has the highest per capita income ($211,993) of any census-designated place in California.Centrally located in this area is the small village of Nicasio itself. The village is in area codes 415/628. The town center has a post office (ZIP code 94946), a general store, a tiny real estate office, St. Mary's Catholic Church (established in 1867), Nicasio Volunteer Fire Department, a baseball field located in the town square, the Rancho Nicasio Bar & Restaurant, a Druid's Hall, as well as a number of private homes. The town was founded in the early 19th century to support local agricultural, timber, and fishing activities. The town once contained the twenty-two-room Hotel Nicasio, which opened in 1867 but burned down in December 1940. Just north of town on Nicasio Valley Road next to the modern-day school building for Nicasio School District is a one-room schoolhouse that opened in 1871. The building is currently a listed historical landmark. The Nicasio post office opened in 1871, closed in 1899, and reopened in 1900.In 2008, Dewey Livingston wrote a detailed history of the region titled Nicasio: The Historic Valley at the Center of Marin.

The Inkwells (also known as The Ink Wells) are two deep natural swimming pools in Lagunitas Creek, in Marin County, California. The upper Inkwell is also known as "Shafters", named after the former railroad bridge that bore its name nearby, whereas the lower Inkwell is simply known as "Inkwell" or "Hole" because it is deeper and darker. Together, they are known as "The Inkwells". They are a common swimming spot in summer, despite failing to meet current water quality standards due to high levels of coliform. The Inkwells are accessible by car as well as public transit, with a Marin Transit bus stop being less than a mile away. The Inkwells Bridge, which runs above the inkwells, is part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. It also carries pipes that bring water from nearby Kent Lake and the nearby Nicasio Reservoir to be treated.