Point Pinole Regional Park
| Point Pinole Regional Shoreline | |
|---|---|
| Location | Contra Costa County, California, United States |
| Nearest city | Richmond, California |
| Area | 2,315 acres (9.37 km2) |
| Operated by | East Bay Regional Park District |
The Point Pinole Regional Shoreline is a regional park on the shores of the San Pablo Bay, California (the northern arm of the San Francisco Bay), in the United States. It is approximately 2,315 acres (9.37 km2) in area, and is operated by the East Bay Regional Park District. It is the home of the Point Pinole Lagoon and Whittel Beach and a festival.
Point Pinole is located in the city of Richmond, California. It is on the site of a number of former explosives factories; the largest of these was operated by the Giant Powder Company, which was relocated to this relatively remote spot following accidental explosions at its former sites in San Francisco and at Albany Hill. Giant had built the first dynamite manufacturing plant in the United States at a site known as Glen Canyon Park, which started up on March 19, 1898. On November 26, 1869, there was an explosion that destroyed every building on the site (including the fence around the plant). The plant was forced to move farther away from heavily populated areas. Another explosion occurred at the Albany Hill plant in 1892, before Giant built its last plant in the lightly populated area of Pinole Point. Giant created a small unincorporated community, which it named Giant, California. Later, the Giant community became the established Croatian community of Sobrante
Although the Point Pinole factory operated until 1960, little trace of it now remains, other than its former tramway grades, which provide a network of nearly 20 kilometers (12 mi) of gently sloping paths for hiking, cycling and horse-riding. The other relic of the park's industrial past is the large number of eucalyptus glades which were planted around the factory site "for safety reasons" (as the park literature mysteriously states). The eucalyptus was planted in strategic groves between the Giant Powder Company and the town to block the sound and smell of occasional explosions.
...
Wikipedia