A couple of weeks ago I featured an episode focusing on the city of Richmond, which sits on the eastern shore of the San Francisco/San Pablo Bay. This episode of Golden Parks examines a portion of the western shore, just across the bay in San Rafael. Until seeing this segment, I had never heard of China Camp State Park and had no idea it ever existed. The fact that this small but important bit of the past could so easily have been forgotten and lost forever seems to me a good reminder that there is so much more to the history of our nation (if I may be slightly US-centric for a moment) than we may ever know; so many different types of people from many different parts of the globe have contributed to the building of this country, and to pretend otherwise is sheer arrogance.

Huell visits one of our state’s most scenic and important State Parks. China Camp State Park is located right on San Francisco Bay and is the last remaining example of the numerous Chinese fishing villages that once dotted the shoreline. Not only does he walk through the quaint village and learn about its colorful history, but he sails out on the Bay in a recently constructed replica of an early Chinese junk. History is so fragile, and this is a fine example of how we are preserving it for further generations.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)