Ranch A/B (Miwok Stables): Cultural Landscape Inventory, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, National Park Service

Biscombe, Jason; Cain, Cortney

The 270‑acre Ranch A/B (Miwok Stables) is located within the boundaries of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in the Marin Headlands along Tennessee Valley Road, south of Tamalpais Valley. The ranch’s physical boundary is defined by natural features such as ridgelines and streambeds, road alignments and surrounding ranch boundaries. Strategically located in a rural natural setting near the head of Tennessee Valley, the ranch complex is hidden at the head of a draw behind flanking hillsides and windbreaks. Ranch A/B is significant as a rare survivor representing Marin County dairy ranching by Azorean Portuguese, who were the dominant immigrant group in California dairying. The period of significance begins in 1903 and extends to 1955, reflecting the dairy ranching period. The boundaries of the ranch include Ranch A/B in its entirety and a portion of Ranch A, which had been owned by Ranch B owner’s in the dairy era. Serving as a small scale family‑owned dairy, Ranch A/B was operated between 1903 and 1955 by a series of Azorean Portuguese companies and families. The settlers came in a wave of European immigration during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and generally settled as tenants on the subdivided ranches, including Ranch A/B. The Azorean Portuguese came from an agrarian society with poor economic conditions and were particularly adept at subsistence agriculture in rugged terrain as a result of their history in the Azores. Their heritage required frugality, hard work and communal cooperation to survive. The land in southern Marin County was unsuitable for market gardening, which occupied many Azorean Portuguese in the eastern and southern San Francisco Bay counties, although it offered opportunities for successful dairying, particularly attracting Azoreans from islands such as San Jorge with dairying traditions. Ranch A/B is comprised of a number of contributing resources, which includes five buildings. The ranch’s primary building cluster is comprised of the main residence, auxiliary residence, house barn/garage, auxiliary stable and the main barn complex. Contributing circulation features include the ranch entrance road, the internal ranch complex road, the pasture access road, concrete alley and the Old Springs Trail. Extant historic cypress and eucalyptus windbreaks and redwood post and barbed wire fencing also contribute to the character of the district. Contributing landscape characteristics include natural systems and features, spatial organization, vegetation, circulation, cluster arrangement, small‑scale features, buildings and structures and archeological sites. Collectively, these landscape characteristics and their associated features help convey the overall design and function of the ranch. Today, the property remains in fair condition and continues to reflect its association with early twentieth century dairy farming on the Marin Peninsula.

Ranch A/B (Miwok Stables): Cultural Landscape Inventory, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, National Park Service

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