Old St. Hilary’s

Old St. Hilary’s Landmark is one of the few surviving examples of Carpenter Gothic in original condition and setting. Built in 1886 as a Roman Catholic Church, it was deconsecrated in 1954, and acquired by the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society in 1959., A . Old St. Hilary’s Landmark: California Historic Point of Interest, Marin 001., B . Dakin Lane: Pathway in memory of historian Susanna B. Dakin and family., C . John Thomas Howell Botanical Garden: In honor of emeritus Curator of Botany, California Academy of Sciences., D . Caroline S. Livermore Vista Point: In memory of Marin County’s foremost conservationist., Please observe the law: do not pick plants, do not litter, do not smoke., The Preserve is a unique wildflower garden of 217 species, two-thirds being native to the Tiburon Peninsula, many of them rare. Nowhere else in California can “so many wonderful plants be found in so small a space.”, The rarity and profusion of plants is related to the geology of the Preserve: steep, rocky hillsides of serpentine, level areas of deeper soil, a series of fresh-water springs, and the whole exposed to full sun and prevailing winds., The rarest, an endemic, is the Black Jewel Flower (Streptanthus niger) which is depicted in the Society logo. It grows only in serpentine on the southern end of the peninsula and blooms in early summer., You are invited to walk through the Preserve but only on the paths. You are in a high fire-hazard area., Plaque is dedicated to the memory of Thea Welder (1902-1988), Elsa Waitzfelder (1878-1971) and Max Honigbaum (1894-1966), who often enjoyed the repose of this site, and donated by Peter Bruck and Marty Bennett, 1990.