China Camp State Park - California
China Camp State Park is surrounds a historic Chinese American shrimp-fishing village and a salt marsh. The park is located in San Rafael, California, on the shore of San Pablo Bay. It is known for its hiking and mountain biking trails, scenic views, and open spaces.
maps Golden Gate - Overview Official Visitor Map of Golden Gate National Recreation Area (NRA) in California. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
brochures China Camp - Brochure Brochure of China Camp State Park (SP) in California. Published by California Department of Parks and Recreation.
https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=466
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Camp_State_Park
China Camp State Park is surrounds a historic Chinese American shrimp-fishing village and a salt marsh. The park is located in San Rafael, California, on the shore of San Pablo Bay. It is known for its hiking and mountain biking trails, scenic views, and open spaces.
Our Mission
China Camp
State Park
The mission of California State Parks is
to provide for the health, inspiration and
education of the people of California by helping
to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological
diversity, protecting its most valued natural and
cultural resources, and creating opportunities
for high-quality outdoor recreation.
San Pablo Bay’s
intertidal salt marshlands
provide ideal habitat
for grass shrimp and
shorebirds near the
remnants of a former
California State Parks supports equal access.
Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who
need assistance should contact the park at
(415) 456-0766. If you need this publication in an
alternate format, contact interp@parks.ca.gov.
CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
For information call: (800) 777-0369
(916) 653-6995, outside the U.S.
711, TTY relay service
www.parks.ca.gov
China Camp State Park
101 Peacock Gap Trail
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 456-0766
www.parks.ca.gov/chinacamp
© 2010 California State Parks (Rev. 2015)
Chinese fishing village.
M
agnificent panoramic views and miles
of multi-use trails greet visitors to China
Camp State Park. History buffs, water
enthusiasts, hikers, cyclists, and equestrians
will all find unforgettable experiences here.
Park History
Native People
The indigenous Coast Miwok people
first settled in what is now Marin County
thousands of years ago. Each village had
dome-shaped pole homes thatched with
grass and tule, with eight to ten people
living in each home. Larger settlements also
had a sweathouse and a dance house.
The Miwok hunted and fished only for
what they consumed. Coast Miwok baskets
and clamshell disk beads were traded
with other tribes for needed items, such as
volcanic obsidian from the Southern Pomo
to make sharp tools.
The Coast Miwok land at Point San Pedro
was eventually taken from them through
a Spanish land grant called Rancho San
Pedro, Santa Margarita y las Gallinas. The
grant was given to Timothy Murphy. After
Murphy’s death in 1850, that land was
divided and sold to the McNear family, the
owners until the mid-1900s. A portion of the
property that is now the park’s Back Ranch
Meadows area was used as the McNear
family’s dairy and grazing land.
Chinese Fishing Village
After the gold rush and the completion
of the transcontinental railroad, demand
for Chinese laborers abated. The Chinese
had to find other work. The McNears
leased some land to a man who sublet it to
Chinese shrimp fishermen. Most of these
fishermen had come from Canton in the
maritime province of Kwantung, China.
By the early 1880s, China Camp was one
European Settlement
of many coastal fishing villages in the bay
Explorer Sir Francis Drake called the Miwok
area, with nearly 500 residents. San Pablo
“peaceful and loving” when he met them
Bay’s mud flats provided an ideal grassin 1579. The Miwok population declined
shrimping location. Nearly three million
after Mission San Francisco de Asís was
pounds of shrimp were caught each year,
established in nearby San
dried, and exported to China.
Francisco in 1776; its sister
Despite its successes, China
mission, San Rafael Arcangel,
Camp’s population began to decline
was built in 1817. The mission
after the Chinese Exclusion Act of
system drastically changed the
1882, which forbade new Chinese
traditional lifestyle of the native
laborers to come to the U.S. Perhaps
people. By 1900, few were left
the population loss was influenced
of an estimated 2,000 Miwok
by the eventual outlawing of shrimp
just a century earlier. Today
export and the type of nets used
some Miwok descendants still
by the Chinese. A few Chinese
live in the area.
The Grace Quan
were able
to continue
harvesting
shrimp, aided
by a new net
designed
in 1924 by
Berkeley
restaurateur
Frank
Spenger.
Villager Quan
Hock Quock
Frank Quan mending a
had come
fish net, 1941
from San
Francisco to run a seaside general store
here; his sons Henry and George Quan
were the last fishermen left at China Camp.
Quan Hock Quock’s grandson, Frank Quan,
still lives here.
The redwood and fir reproduction
Chinese junk Grace Quan, named after
Frank’s mother, was built in 2003 by the
San Francisco Maritime National Historic
Park and dedicated volunteers, with
support from China Camp State Park staff.
natural History
More than 100 acres of tidal marsh at China
Camp represent transitional wetlands at
the edge of San Francisco Bay. Brackish
seawater marsh makes up the park’s
marine habitat, home to the endangered
salt marsh harvest mouse and California
clapper rail.
Surrounding the marsh are several
other habitats. Native grassland, mixed
evergreen forest, oak woodland, and
chaparral lead to a ridge dotted with coast
live oak, California black oak, manzanita,
and madrone trees.
Spring brings profuse wildflowers. Broad
meadows fill with lupine, blue-eyed grass,
and Indian paintbrush. California milkwort,
buckeye, and orange sticky monkeyflower
bloom on hillsides in summertime.
Birders may see chi