On San Pablo Bay in Richmond, a quiet shoreline park sits on land once used to make explosives.
The dynamite years
Point Pinole is on the site of several former explosives factories, the largest run by the Giant Powder Company, according to Wikipedia. Giant built the first dynamite plant in the United States in what is now San Francisco's Glen Canyon Park, starting production on March 19, 1868. An explosion on Nov. 26, 1869, destroyed every building on the site. After another explosion at its Albany Hill plant in 1892, the company built its last plant at lightly populated Point Pinole and created a small company town named Giant. The regional shoreline was created in 1973.
Today
The park district describes a 2,432-acre park of meadows, eucalyptus woods, bluffs and beaches, with views of Mount Tamalpais and the Marin shoreline. In April 2017, the district finished restoring the Dotson Family Marsh, formerly Breuner Marsh, named for a longtime Parchester Village family who fought to save the shoreline from development. It also opened the Atlas Road Bridge entrance and a 1.5-mile raised extension of the Bay Trail.
Right now
The district says the Bay Trail east of the Atlas Bridge entrance is closed because a large sinkhole is developing between the Union Pacific tracks and the trail, and there's no timeline for reopening. October hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and November hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dogs aren't allowed on the pier, and visitors are limited to three dogs each.