While Dillon Beach cannot legally claim exclusive ownership over the sandy area below the high tide mark due to California’s public trust doctrine, it can market itself as having a “private beach” based on ownership of adjacent lands and management practices that restrict public access.

Thus, while technically incorrect in claiming exclusivity over all aspects of the beach itself, they leverage their control over entry points and surrounding properties to create an impression of privacy.

[3] The Coast Miwok people had a presence in the area around Dillon Beach long before Europeans arrived in the Americas.

It is thought that a few of their villages were located within the greater Dillon Beach area, including one around the feature known locally as the Sand Point.

In the 1850s, local historical figure Tom Wood operated in the area, employing the natives in harvesting of grain to be milled nearby.

When his friends and family showed interest in the area, he thought to capitalize on it; in 1888, he built an 11 bedroom hotel, restaurant, and general store.

When regular visitors and Woodland ranchers Sylvester and Carrie Lawson offered to lease the property, the California Eucalyptus Plantation Company promptly agreed.

Sylvester and Carrie's older son, Howard, and his wife, Winifred, owned and ran the resort, while the younger son, Walter, and his wife, Nita, ran the southern side of the property, operating it as a ranch and opening Lawsons Landing on it.

The Landing is operated by Walter's descendants to this day as a campground with a store and boating access to Tomales Bay.

During World War II, fears of a Japanese invasion of the West Coast were considered well founded, especially along sparsely populated Marin and Sonoma counties, where enemy forces could conceivably make landfall and prepare for a larger invasion of San Francisco Bay.

The military commandeered many cottages and monitored the water from outposts on the surrounding hills supported by ground patrols.

The sand dunes on the Lawsons Landing property were also a site for rifle and grenade practice, and the Lawson family recalls at least one instance of an armored vehicle's .50 caliber machine gun being fired around their cows, resulting in a tense conversation between soldiers and ranchers.

One soldier reportedly sighted a Japanese submarine off the beach, prompting the garrison to scramble to nearby Marshall to requisition its civilian fishing boats for use in a counterattack, several of which were run by their respective owners.

It stood between Portola Beach and Lawsons Landing, offering a hands-on experience for a small number of marine biology students.

Fancy modern coastal houses were built on the hillsides overlooking the quaint town of small cottages, giving it a unique appeal.

Between 2001 and 2018, Dillon Beach Resort was owned and operated by Fred and Nancy Cline of Sonoma Valley, California.