China Camp Beach

Set on the coast of the San Francisco bay in Marin County California, is an abandoned settlement once inhabited by shrimp farmers from China. The village is now a state park, and the original settlers have long since moved away, but the village buildings remain, along with the spirit of life as it was.

One Fall day I found myself there to paint with a friend, perched in the Eucalyptus groves, high on a hill overlooking the beach and dark stony cliffs that mark the barrier between this timeless world, and the busy city just around the bend. In the distance you can see Richmond, refineries and all, and a passing barge maybe on its way back to China. That day brought buses of teenagers, milling about the pier, and a fisherman tending his boat  just past the painted beauties that no longer sail. There was a lady who sat sanguine on a lawn chair, chatting on her cell phone, and the trees laughed at me as I walked the place with camera and a happy heart. The photos I took were a little bit lonesome, even with kids passing intrigued with the place, maybe because  people come to visit and enjoy the day but no one stays through the night anymore.