The earliest human habitation of the local area was by hunter-gatherer Native American peoples.

The clearest extant record of such habitation in the vicinity is on the nearby Ring Mountain, where rock art and grinding stones[2] are found on some of the large boulders.

He married Hilarita née Reed (1839–1908), the daughter of John Reed, an Irish immigrant who was granted the Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio, literally "the place where wood is cut for the Presidio", which today comprises the peninsula incorporating Tiburon, Belvedere and much of southern Marin County.

It was moved by barge in December 1957 when threatened with demolition and is now owned by the National Audubon Society.

[4] The new home's location was on eleven acres belonging to Rose Verrall, who'd lived there for decades and eventually donated the land and property that would become the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary.