Point Reyes, California

Point Reyes is a prominent cape on the Pacific coast of northern California. It is located in Marin County approximately 30 mi (48 km) WNW of San Francisco. The term is often applied to the Point Reyes Peninsula, the region bounded by Tomales Bay on the northeast and Bolinas Lagoon on the southeast. The headland is protected as part of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Category: File - :Drake CA 1590.jpg|thumb|400px|Drake's Landing in New Albion, 1579. Engraving published by Theodor De Bry, 1590.

New Albion, also known as Nova Albion, was the name of the region of the Pacific coast of North America explored by Sir Francis Drake and claimed by him for England in 1579. The extent of New Albion and the location of Drake's landing have long been debated by historians, with the most prevailing theory that he landed on the coast of northern California. Albion, "the white", is an archaic name for the island of Great Britain, a reference to the chalk cliffs lining the English Channel.

Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral (1540 ? 27 January 1596), was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, a renowned pirate, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Queen Elizabeth I awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588, subordinate only to Charles Howard and the Queen herself. He died of dysentery in January 1596According to the English calendar then in use, Drake's date of death was 27 January 1595, as the new year began on 25 March. after unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico.

His exploits were legendary, making him a hero to the English but a pirate to the Spaniards to whom he was known as El Draque, 'Draque' being the Spanish pronunciation of 'Drake'. His name in Latin was Franciscus Draco ('Francis the Dragon'). In 1590 his name was published in Latin as Franciscvs Draco: Theodor de Bry King Philip II was claimed to have offered a reward of 20,000 ducats,Cummins, John, Francis Drake: The Lives of a Hero, 1996,

Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0312163657 about £4,000,000 (US$6.5M) by modern standards, for his life.

He is famous for (among other things) leading the first English circumnavigation of the world, from 1577 to 1580.

The so-called 'Drakes Plate of Brass' is a forgery that purports to be the brass plaque that Francis Drake posted upon landing in Northern California in 1579. The hoax was successful for forty years, despite early doubts. After the plate came to public attention in 1936, historians immediately raised questions regarding the plates wording, spelling, and manufacture. The hoax's perpetrators even tried to tip off the plate's finders as to its origins. But many presumed the plate to be real after an early metallurgical study concluded it was genuine. Then, in the late 1970s, scientists determined that the plate was a modern creation after it failed a battery of physical and chemical tests. Much of the mystery surrounding the plate continued until 2003, when historians finally advanced a theory about who created the plate and why, showing the plate to be a practical joke by local historians gone very awry. The plate was acquired by ? and until 2005 was on display at ? The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley.

Category: Image - :Sfdrake42.jpg|thumb|upright|Sir Francis Drake, by Nicholas Hilliard, 1581

Point Reyes National Seashore is a park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California, USA. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as a nationally important nature preserve within which existing agricultural uses are allowed to continue. Clem Miller, a US Congressman from Marin County wrote and introduced the bill for the establishment of Point Reyes National Seashore in 1962 to protect the peninsula from residential development which was proposed at the time for the slopes above Drake's Bay. Miller's vision included the continuation of the historic ranching and oyster farming along with the preservation of the grasslands and open scenic vistas. The mix of commercial and recreational uses was the reason the area was designated a National Seashore rather than a National Park.

Point Reyes was one of the locations where the 1980 horror film The Fog was filmed.

Drakes Estero is an expansive estuary in Marin County on the Pacific coast of northern California in the United States, approximately northwest of San Francisco.

Category: Image - :Wpdms usgs photo drakes bay.jpg|right|thumb|Drakes Estero

Located at , the estuary provides the main drainage for the Point Reyes peninsula. Seen from the air, Drakes Estero resembles a human hand, with Barries Bay, Creamery Bay, Schooner Bay, and Home Bay as the "fingers" and Limantour Bay as the thumb. The waters of the Estero flow into Drakes Bay between Drakes Beach and a narrow strip of land called Limantour Spit.

Drakes Estero is protected as part of the Point Reyes National Seashore.

Tomales Bay is a long narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean in Marin County in northern California in the United States. It is approximately 15 miles (25 km) long and averages nearly 1.0 miles (1.6 km) wide, effectively separating the Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland of Marin County. It is located approximately 30 miles (48 km) northwest of San Francisco. The bay forms the eastern boundary of Point Reyes National Seashore. On its northern end it opens out onto Bodega Bay, which shelters it from the direct current of the Pacific. The bay is formed by a submerged portion of the San Andreas Fault.

Immediately to the east of the bay, much of the land is grazed by cows belonging to small dairies.

The bay sees significant amounts of water sports including sailing and motorboating. Watercraft may be launched on Tomales Bay from the public boat ramp at Nick's Cove, north of Marshall. There is a $5 fee. The sand bar at the mouth of Tomales Bay is notoriously dangerous, with a long history of small boat accidents.

Towns bordering Tomales Bay include Inverness, Inverness Park, Point Reyes Station, and Marshall. Additional hamlets include Spengers, Duck Cove, Shallow Beach, and Vilicichs. Dillon Beach lies just to the north of the mouth of the bay, and Tomales just to the east.

Marin County () is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2007, the population was 248,096. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is renowned for its natural beauty, liberal politics, affluence and a strong New Age reputation. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Marin County has the fifth highest income per capita in the United States at $91,483. It is governed by local cities and the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

San Quentin Prison is located in the county, as is Skywalker Ranch. Autodesk, the publisher of AutoCAD, is located there, as are numerous other high-tech companies. The headquarters of film and media company Lucasfilm Ltd., previously based in San Rafael, have moved to the Presidio of San Francisco.

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.

America's oldest cross country running event, the Dipsea Race, takes place annually in Marin County, attracting thousands of athletes. Mountain biking is said to have been invented on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin.

Marin County's natural sites include Muir Woods redwood forest, the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Mount Tamalpais.

The tule elk is a subspecies of elk found only in the grasslands and marshlands of California. It is the smallest subspecies of all American elks, with the average weight of adult males only 450 - 550 pounds. The females average 375 - 425 pounds. The calves are similar to deer fawns, with brown coat and white spots. When the Europeans first arrived, half a million tule elk roamed these regions. But by 1895, habitat loss and hunting had reduced the elk population to only 28. Conservation measures were taken to protect the species in the 1970s. Today the wild population exceeds 4,000. Tule elk can reliably be found in Carrizo Plain National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, and portions of the Owens Valley from Lone Pine to Bishop.

The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal motion). It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.

The fault was first identified in Northern California by UC Berkeley geology professor Andrew Lawson in 1895 and named by him after a small lake which lies in a linear valley formed by the fault just south of San Francisco, the Laguna de San Andreas. After the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Lawson also discovered that the San Andreas Fault stretched southward into Southern California.

Category: File - :Sfearthquake2.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Stockton Street from Union Square, looking toward Market Street

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, CA and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 A.M. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906.USGS - The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.8; however, other values have been proposed, from 7.7 to as high as 8.25.1906 Earthquake: What was the magnitude?USGS Earthquake Hazards Program - Northern California, Accessed September 19, 2006 The main shock epicenter occurred offshore about 2 miles (3 km) from the city, near Mussel Rock. It ruptured along the San Andreas Fault both northward and southward for a total of 296 miles (477 km).1906 Earthquake: How long was the 1906 Crack?USGS Earthquake Hazards Program - Northern California, Accessed September 3, 2006 Shaking was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles, and inland as far as central Nevada. The earthquake and resulting fire are remembered as one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States. The death toll from the earthquake and resulting fire, estimated to be above 3,000,Timeline of the San Francisco Earthquake April 18 - 23, 1906, The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco is the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California's history. The economic impact has been compared with the more recent Hurricane Katrina.John A. Kilpatrick and Sofia Dermisi, Aftermath of Katrina: Recommendations for Real Estate Research, Journal of Real Estate Literature, Spring, 2007

Point Reyes Lifeboat Station, also known as Point Reyes Lifeboat Rescue Station, was built in 1927 by the United States Lifesaving Service (precursor to the USCGS). It used rail launched 36 foot motorized lifeboats to aid ships foundering on Point ReyesNHL Writeu[. It was a replacement to another station that was built in 1888. It remains the only unaltered instance of this type of station on the West Coast.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985,, and it was further declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. and

The Point Reyes Lighthouse, also known as Point Reyes Light or the Point Reyes Light Station, is a lighthouse in the Gulf of the Farallones on Point Reyes in Marin County, California, U.S.A.

The Coast Miwok were the second largest group of Miwok Native American people. The Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point and eastward to Sonoma Creek. The Coast Miwok included the Bodega Bay Miwok from authenticated Miwok villages around Bodega Bay and Marin Miwok.

Category: File - :Miwok Indian Village Entrance Sign.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Entrance sign to the site

Category: File - :KuleLoklo3272.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Part of Kule Loklo in 2009

Kule Loklo ("Bear Valley") is a recreated Coast Miwok Native American village located a short walk from the visitor center of the Point Reyes National Seashore, in Marin County, California. Kule Loklo was originally created in the 1970s by the Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM) as a tribute to Marin County's indigenous people, the Coast Miwoks.

In 1992, the ceremonial roundhouse at Kule Loklo was destroyed by an arsonist; through an outpouring of community support, it was replaced with a larger roundhouse in 1993.

There is currently one annual public festival at Kule Loklo, the Big Time, held in late July, which features California Indian dancing and Native American crafts.

PRBO Conservation Science, founded as the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, is a California based wildlife conservation and research non-profit organization. PRBO was founded in 1965 to study the birds migrating along the Pacific flyway, and has run the longest population study of landbirds in Western North America (continuous since 1966), as well as maintaining a year-round research presence on the Farallon Islands since 1969.

PRBO employs 55 biologists, approximately 85 seasonal biologists, and 6 education and outreach staff, who focus on scientific research, conservation biology, and outreach. PRBO has published over 1000 scientific papers, and numerous scientific outreach and education tools. PRBO's science has influenced policy makers, conservation organizations, and ecosystem managers throughout the west. Most of the research is conducted in the western United States, but it can reach as far Japan, Alaska and Antarctica. PRBO is headquartered in Petaluma, CA with several active field research stations and sites throughout CA.

Recently PRBO has begun a major focus on understanding and projecting the effects of climate change on ecosystems. PRBO is now administering grants to graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to study the biological impacts of climate change in California

Category: File - :Swami Vivekananda-1893-09-signed.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Swami Vivekananda, the founder

Category: File - :Swami Abhedananda (1866-1939).jpg|right|180px|thumb|Swami Abhedananda (1866-1939), called from India by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 to run the Society.

Vedanta Society, and its variant Vedanta Centre, are terms covering organizations, groups, or societies formed for the study, practice, and propagation of Vedanta.

The first Vedanta Society was founded by Swami Vivekananda in New York in November 1894.The Life of Swami Vivekananda, Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, 2000, Vol 1 p 514., who later on asked Swami Abhedananda to lead the organization in 1897 Swami Abhedananda - Biography Ramakrishna Vedanta Math.. Many of the existing Vedanta Societies are affiliated, either formally or informally, with the Ramakrishna Order, the monastic order, which led to the formation of Ramakrishna Mission.

Prior to its inception, Swami Vivekananda had given his famous "Brothers and Sisters of America!", public lecture at Parliament of Religions, Chicago in September 1893; after its success he spent following two years lecturing in various parts of eastern and central United States, appearing chiefly in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and New York. In June 1895, for two months he conducted private lectures to a dozen of his disciples at the Thousand Island Park.

The branches of the Ramakrishna Order located outside India are generally known as Vedanta Societies, and are under the spiritual guidance of the Ramakrishna Order. The work of the Vedanta Societies in the west has primarily been devoted to spiritual and pastoral activities, though many of them do some form of social service. Many of the Western Vedanta societies have resident monks, and several centers have resident nuns.

Point Reyes Station (formerly, Marin and Olema Station) is small unincorporated town located in western Marin County, California. Point Reyes Station is located south-southeast of Tomales, at an elevation of . Point Reyes Station is located along State Route 1 and is a gateway to the Point Reyes National Seashore, an extremely popular national preserve. About 350 people live in the town. It is also the name of a census-designated place in northern California covering the unincorporated town and surrounding countryside, with a total CDP population of 818.

The town is home to the region's weekly newspaper, The Point Reyes Light, which won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its reporting on the now-defunct cult group Synanon. Now, under new ownership and editorial staff The Point Reyes Light has competition from the ''West Marin Citizen.

Olema is an unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It is located on Olema Creek south-southeast of Point Reyes Station, at an elevation of 69 feet (21 m).

Olema is along State Route 1 and on the eastern edge of the Point Reyes Peninsula in the western part of Marin County. "Olema" is Miwok for coyote.

Olema was once thought to be the epicenter of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake due to the huge fault rifts still visible via a nearby hiking path. There are historical references to this in and around the town, including at shops and restaurants. However, more recent evidence suggests that a location near Daly City is more likely the epicenter.1906 San Francisco earthquake

Olema also was the title subject of the late-1960s country-rock song, "Hippie from Olema", The Youngbloods' rejoinder to Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee".

The Olema post office opened in 1859, closed in 1860, and re-opened in 1864.

Inverness is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in western Marin County, California. Inverness is located on the southwest shore of Tomales Bay northwest of Point Reyes Station, at an elevation of 43 feet (13 m). In the 2000 census, the population was 1,421. The community is named after Inverness in Scotland by a Scots landowner.

Inverness is north of San Francisco, on a bay of the Pacific Ocean.