China Camp Village

We had reservations at the campground at China Camp State Park in early August, 2024, which was intended just as an overnight stop while on-route between Santa Cruz, CA and the Oregon coast. Without having done any research with respect to what to expect at the state park, we were very pleasantly surprised to stumble upon the China Camp Village. The Village commemorates an historical (1880s) Chinese American shrimp fishing village on the shore of San Pablo Bay. The small (unmanned) museum is in one of the original restored buildings, and has exhibits that depict the work and lives of the fishermen from that era. We also walked along the pier, and took photographs of the old boats on the shore and the "Grace Quan", which is moored to the pier. The Grace Quan is a reconstruction of a San Francisco Bay shrimp junk that was a workhorse of the dried shrimp industry from 1860-1910. We ended the evening watching sunset over the bay from one of the plentiful picnic tables. Clean restrooms are available. The state park charges $5 for day use parking.

Nice to get a little history in during our trip to Marin county! Tucked away in China Camp State Park, you can visit a former Chinese shrimping village. They've done a good job of preserving some of the original buildings. You can walk inside one of the bigger buildings, walk out on the pier, peer into some of the buildings they lived in, and even see a boat. I love that they have a lot of signs that tell the history of how they fished and about the people that lived there. Note that parking here is $5- there is a machine but even had a guy sitting in a camping chair at the entrance of the lot asking us to pay. Reading the pay machine, they want you to pay the $5 even if you've parked elsewhere and use the nearby trails for biking or running. I get it- they need funding- but have never seen such a trail usage fee like this before.

Nice historic site. Good proximity to mountain bike/hiking trails. The little store is nice.

China Camp Beach is out here and I highly recommend it as a swimming spot for all skill levels. Up to and a little past the first buoy the water only gets to about 5ft in depth. It is deep enough to swim but also a cinch to just stand up whenever you need to. However, it's quite muddy so I'd wear some water shoes. The parking lot is small so it doesn't get crowded here. Parking is $5 though I rarely see it being enforced. I think the summer season is when they crack down the hardest on parking.

Beautifully preserved shrimp fishing village that is now a Museum. The site was a Chinese shrimp fishing village established after the rail roads were built & the men needed to make a living. It remained active until the last member of the Quan family, Frank Quan, who still operated here, died in 2016. Now it's a museum operated by the park service.