The park is named for
Samuel Penfield Taylor, who found gold during the
California Gold Rush and used some of his money to buy a parcel of land along
Lagunitas Creek. In 1856, Taylor built the Pioneer Paper Mill, the first paper mill on the Pacific Coast. In the 1870s, the
North Pacific Coast Railroad was built between
Cazadero and a pier in
Sausalito where passengers could transfer to a ferry to
San Francisco. The railroad passed near Taylor's mill, and, ever the entrepreneur, he built the "Camp Taylor Resort" alongside the tracks. A destination for San Franciscans, the resort offered both a hotel and tent camping, as well as swimming, boating, fishing, and a dance pavilion. Taylor died on January 22, 1886, and his family lost the mill and resort in the
Panic of 1893. The mill burned down in 1916, and in 1945 the State of California took possession of the property for non-payment of taxes. ==See also==