Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Last week-end while in Point Reyes National Seashore I went out to Pierce Point Ranch which is where the road ends heading north in the park. I was planning to hike out to see the herd of Tule Elk, but it was so foggy reports from hikers returning from the trail said they’d not seen or heard the Elk. So, instead of hiking I stayed at the ranch and took photographs of some of the buildings and doors.
For the History Buffs:
“The Ranch was constructed by Solomon Pierce in the 1860’s. It was the most successful “butter rancho” in Point Reyes Township.
In the 1880’s the ranch was leased to a series of tenants, and in the mid 1930’s it was sold to the McClure family which operated it’s Grade B dairy until the about 1945, when dairy ranching ceased after 90 years.
The complex includes the 1869 and earlier sections of the two-story main house, the tank house, school, woodshed, carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, dairy, horse barn, slaughter house, hay barn, hog sheds, and pens. It represents the most extensive surviving historic complex in the Point Reyes National Seashore.
The Pierce Point Ranch on Tomales Point ceased operations in 1973. Three years later, Congress authorized creation of the wilderness area incorporating that ranch as habitat for the reintroduction of Tule Elk. Beginning in 1980, NPS invested in the rehabilitation of the ranch core, citing it as the best example of a nineteenth century west Marin dairy ranch. Pierce Point Ranch was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and was subsequently opened to the public as an interpretive site.“~http://wikimapia.org/100600/Pierce-Point-Ranch
Dairy/Long Barn Doors:
The Dairy/Long Barn- It was so foggy the sky was white so, I converted this image to Black and White.
another image of the Dairy and shed with a couple more doors.
This might be the school house,
Closer look of door of possible school,
A closer look at that door knob, and pad lock,
Here’s an image of a male Tule Elk that I took here back in 2012. Can you see the velvet hanging off his antlers around his face? He’s scratching it off and polishing his antlers. I saw him on Bachelors Hill.
The Bachelor’s; There were quite a few of them that year. They were also pretty far away. My lens was stretched beyond its limits that day too.
The only wildlife I saw while at the ranch Saturday was an Alligator Lizard sunning itself.
It was a great day despite the fog and no Elk.
Nikon Df w/ Nikkor 28-105mm| Delkin Digital Film, and Lumix FZ200, Lexar Digital Film,
The 2012 images were made with the Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 70-300mm VR, SanDisk Digital Film
This post is part of Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors. If you love doors and would like to see the doors others are posting, or post doors you’ve photographed and join other door lovers from around the world click here.
At the end of Norm’s latest Thursday Door post is a little Blue Link-up/View button click it to be taken to a page with all the links to view all the posts, and add your own if you’re a door enthusiast too.
More to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
I love the images of the barns and schoolhouse from afar. Lovely.
Thank you so much for the lovely comment and for following me. I’m thrilled you found something you like here!
Those doors and the building are so cool! I love the rustic look!
I like the lock on the white door, very rustic!
Thank you so much!
Lovely bit of history attached to that place, Deborah. Those elks are fabulous animals.
Wow, so much fog! You make fog look beautiful:) I like your capture of the schoolhouse actually even more. Nice details of the door. Serendiptiously I have some deer posted for this week in my post:)
Thank you so much for the lovely compliment Jesh! I”m looking forward to seeing the deer! Hope you have a fabulous week-end!
What a great collection! It’s unfortunate that it was too foggy for the elk hike, but it lends a great ambiance to the photos of the buildings! 🙂
Thanks so much for the comment!
It was a bit disappointing not to see the Elk, but I did hike 3 miles that day so not a total bust exercise wise. 🙂 I love the fog for the same reason.
A wonderful collection of shots to accompany the story. That B & W shot of the barn is just beautiful.
Those first doors are great! I was very happy to see “For the History Buffs:” – Yay! Very interesting place. I like the idea of converting to B&W, I’m not sure I would have thought to do that. Actually, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have. I do wonder about “Grade B” dairy. Does that refer to the milk quality? If so, I think I know where our in-school milk cartons came from 🙂
Thanks for giving us another look into the off-the-beaten-path of California, Deborah.
Thanks Dan! I’m glad you enjoy seeing and reading the “For the History Buffs” information. I’ve always enjoyed history.
I’d forgotten the difference between Grade A and Grade B dairy products so looked it up.
In earlier times before the 1990’s products like butter, yogurt, and cheese could be made with lesser grade milk than milk sold for consumption, so they got the designation Grade B.
w4Standards for cheese, butter, and yogurt got stiffer forcing dairies to upgrade their farming/ranching practices, feeds, and tools. Most dairies began using Grade A milk for all products so, Grade B pretty much has disappeared.
Thanks for asking the question and prompting me to look that up. I recall giving a Toastmaster’s talk on this subject many, many years ago!
Thanks for looking it up! I didn’t know you a Toastmaster. I was in and out of that organization several times. I spent about a dozen years there in total.
I was but only for the first 9 talks. About a year. It was supposed to make me less terrified to speak in front of audiences as well make me a better speaker, but I got more, and more stressed out with each talk so didn’t complete that last 10th talk. So, I never moved up to the next level. I dropped out shortly after that.
Aw, sorry to hear that. My boss made me go, in 1978, after a miserable meeting. I got the hang of it after a while, but it was a tough start.
I still have a hard time speaking to a crowd of faces staring at me. One on one, and in small groups I’m okay, but a large audience like 10-30 people or more my mind goes black, my palms sweat, my heart beats a mile a minute, and my mouth goes dry. PANIC! 🙂 I’ve had hives stressing over speaking in front of group, and taking tests.
I can see you being pretty good at the talks.
Wonderful post. What a gorgeously gray foggy morning to capture those photos! That adds interest and mood for me.
I’m always sad to see the end of such useful places, the end of someone’s way of life, but I love the way they’ve turned it into a homeland for the elk.
Love the school door, yes, I think school too.
Really lovely tribute today.
PS: The Best lock corporation is right here in Indianapolis, Indiana within walking distance of my old stomping grounds. Just yesterday I passed it and noticed it’s been acquired by Stanley tools.
Thank you Joey for the comment. I love the mood fog lends to scenes too.
The information on the Best Lock Co. is neat. I’d never seen a Best Lock before Saturday!
Stanley Tools are good. I have a few. 🙂
I met Mr Best a very long time ago, in the 80’s. He was probably 20 years older than my parents. I saw that sign yesterday, and I figured Mr Best has passed on and his family no longer wanted such an enormous responsibility. End of an era. I smiled at the sight of that lock.
🙂 Yes, that’s happened to several favorite businesses here both small and a little larger. It’s sad to see them close, or change hands.
I’m so glad I was able to make you smile today with that lock! 🙂
Whenever I see one in the future I’ll think of you and that story.
That pleases me, thanks 🙂
🙂
Nice post! I like how you provided both distant and close-up looks of the barn and I love the fog too. We have a lot of elk around here and I often see the cows but the bulls are more elusive. It is amazing to me that you were able to capture several bulls in one shot!
Thank you so much Denise! Bachelor’s Hill! There were so many young bucks without mates that year, and 4 bucks had Harem’s and all the females spoken for. I really was looking forward to seeing how the herd looked this year since it’s been a few years since my last hike out there. I’ll go back in August and see if I have better luck seeing them.
It sounds like a fabulous place. Interesting background and wonderful photos!
Thank you so much Belinda!
I’ve read about the ranch in the Bay Nature magazine and love it that you’ve featured it here. The Point Reyes area fascinates me with its human and nature history interwoven. I understand that the elk are both a boon and a bane in the area. What a complicated, wonderful thing you have out there! Thank you for sharing it with your beautiful photos. I do love fog. We hardly ever get it here anymore because of all the building that has happened, and I’ve read that not as much fog rolls in off the coast as used to. That is bad news for the trees.
Thank you Melissa! The herd is growing which is good, but they do take their toll on the land. There are a couple more herds in CA now too.
Point Reyes NS is a wonderful park. I spent the whole day there, and barely saw it! 🙂
Regarding the fog, I haven’t noticed that it’s less. Summer’s are still cold and foggy in San Francisco and Marin Co, and summer mornings here in Silicon Valley are still chilly and overcast as it’s been since I moved here with my parents when I was 10, and every Winter there’s that thick Tule fog along the I5/505 corridor that wreaks havoc with drivers. That stuff scares me!
The change must be subtle b/c I’ve not noticed, and I would think I would notice that.
Less fog would be bad for the trees! All that lovely moss that grows on the them would suffer first I think.