Point Pinole Regional Shoreline
Point Pinole Regional Shoreline
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Point Pinole Regional Shoreline

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Point Pinole Regional Shoreline

Point Pinole Regional Shoreline is a regional park on the shores of the San Pablo Bay, California (the northern arm of the San Francisco Bay), in the United States. It is approximately 2,315 acres (9.37 km2) in area, and is operated by the East Bay Regional Park District. It includes the Dotson Family Marsh (formerly Breuner Marsh) and the Point Pinole Lagoon and hosts the North Richmond Shoreline Festival.

Point Pinole is located in the city of Richmond, California. It is on the site of a number of former explosives factories; the largest of these was operated by the Giant Powder Company, which was relocated to this relatively remote spot following accidental explosions at its former sites in San Francisco and at Albany Hill. Giant had built the first dynamite manufacturing plant in the United States at a site known as Glen Canyon Park, which started up on March 19, 1868. On November 26, 1869, there was an explosion that destroyed every building on the site (including the fence around the plant). The plant was forced to move farther away from heavily populated areas. Another explosion occurred at the Albany Hill plant in 1892, before Giant built its last plant in the lightly populated area of Pinole Point. Giant created a small unincorporated community, which it named Giant, California. Later, the Giant community became the established Croatian community of Sobrante.

Although the Point Pinole factory operated until 1960, when Bethlehem Steel Company acquired the property from Atlas Powder Company, little trace of it now remains. After several years, the East Bay Regional Park District acquired the property and opened Point Pinole to the public as a park in 1973. A plaque denotes the site as a California Historical Landmark. The facility's former tramway grades provide a network of nearly 20 kilometers (12 mi) of gently sloping paths for hiking, cycling and horse-riding. The other relic of the park's industrial past is the large number of eucalyptus glades groves which were planted around the factory site to buffer against potential explosions.

The park features the promontory of Point Pinole, located where the East Bay shoreline turns from running south towards Berkeley and Oakland to running eastwards, inland. Geologically, it is a result of movement on the Hayward Fault which runs along its western edge, creating a low scarp. It offers superb views across the bay in all directions, towards San Francisco to the southwest, Mount Tamalpais and the Marin Headlands to the northwest, inland across San Pablo Bay to the north and east, and Mt. Diablo inland to the southeast. Fresh and ocean waters mix at this point, so the marine life is rich; a leisure pier has been built at the end of promontory, replacing a former jetty used by the factories, and is a popular location for angling.

The parks trails are almost level allowing for easy walks. There is a $3 parking fee and a $2 per dog fee.

In 2008 the park acquired the adjoining Breuner Marsh site and added it to the Point Pinole Regional Shoreline park. EBRPD renamed it the Dotson Family Marsh.

The park is a mixture of grassland and woodland, with beaches and low cliffs, and it has a particularly rich bird life, including many ducks and shorebirds, and the endangered black rail. It is located on the Pacific Flyway, so many migrant species are also seen. The marsh provides habitat for several creatures, including the Ridgway's rail and the salt marsh harvest mouse.

Whittell Marsh is the site of one of the few remaining Native American shellmounds in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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