National Register #85003324
Pierce Ranch Historic District
Point Reyes National Seashore
Year 1858

Among the many ranches of the Point Reyes Peninsula and nearby Olema Valley, Pierce Ranch has the greatest degree of integrity. Although the ranch has experienced rebuilding, remodeling, and replacement of buildings for over a century, its character remains that of a late 19th and early 20th century dairy ranch.

Before Pierce Ranch was here, the land was sand dunes and grassland grazed by native animals. Today, the land is grassland with eucalyptus and Monterey Cypress planted in long rows as windbreaks.

Before the American conquest of California, the land was part of a Mexican land grant, Punta de los Reyes Sobrante. The law firm of Shafter, Park and Heydenfelt acquired the land soon the conquest and developed it as a series of ranches, each given a letter of the alphabet. The only exception was a a 2,200 acre tract at the end of Tomales Point which the firm sold to Solomon Pierce in 1858.

Solomon Pierce had emigrated to El Dorado County from Vermont in 1850 in search of gold. In 1856 his wife and son to joined him. in 1858, the Pierces moved to Petaluma where Solomon entered the dairy business. The following December, Pierce purchased the Tomales Point tract and moved his family onto the land. By the close of his first year, Pierce had acquired three horses, thirty-seven milk cows, two work oxen, forty head of cattle and twenty-four swine.

In 1856, according to local tradition, a small dwelling was built at this site, and is now part of the main house. Between 1856 and 1933, ranch buildings such as barns arid creameries were built. A new main house was built in 1869 and is believed to be part of the main house that survives today.

The district contains ten buildings, three structures and eighteen objects of historic significance. The age of most of these buildings, structures and objects is speculative.

Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1985.

Pierce Ranch ceased operations in 1973. The National Park Service has rehabilitated the ranch core, citing it as the best example of a west Marin dairy ranch from the 1800s. The property is open to the public.