L Ranch: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Point Reyes National Seashore
Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 Park Cultural Landscapes Program. 2004. L Ranch: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Point Reyes National Seashore. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 725013. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. NPS Pacific West Regional Office, San Francisco, California / CRIS-CL Database
Inventory Unit Description: L Ranch is an approximately 1,132-acre vernacular ranching landscape located on Tomales Point along the eastern boundary of the Point Reyes Peninsula in Point Reyes National Seashore. L Ranch is operated by Joseph H. Mendoza and G.W. Lobaugh as a Grade A dairy. The spine of Inverness Ridge crosses through the ranch property from the northwest to the southeast. The L Ranch complex stands on a windy and treeless hillside of the ridge as it has for 125 years. The northeastern slope, rolling down to Tomales Bay and the Duck Cove and Sacramento Landing settlements, is cut by numerous gulches and contains a mix of grassland, brush, and Bishop pine forest. The gentle southwestern slope is comprised entirely of grasslands and provides a vast panorama of Point Reyes Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean. L Ranch appears today much as it did during the period of significance of 1857 to 1956 when the ranch was initially developed by Captain Henrik Claussen for Oscar and James Shafter and Charles Webb Howard as part of the tenant-operated dairy ranch system on the peninsula. This period encompasses the construction of the major developments at the ranch including the roads, structures, fencelines, and landscape vegetation. The historic L Ranch complex is nearly intact with only three non-contributing structures. The original main residence, dairy barn, horse barn, calf barn, milking barn, shed, garage, an east barn, a Grade A dairy, and the gates, corrals, and fences exist side-by-side with the modern dairy ranching structures including, sheds and manure ponds and pits. Spatial organization, land use, vegetation, circulation, buildings and structures, and cluster arrangement are contributing landscape characteristics of the vernacular ranching landscape.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Date of Issue
- 2004-09-15
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- PORE , PWR
- Keywords
- agriculture, architecture, barn, commerce, corrals, dairy ranch, Duck Cove, exploration - settlement, fencing, gates, Ghisletta Ranch, Grade A dairy, Henrik Claussen, historic vernacular landscape, livestock, Lobaugh/Mendoza Ranch, ranching community, ranching landscape, Sacramento Landing, tenant ranch, Tomales Bay, vernacular architecture