The region's earliest residents were dedicated to growing basic foodstuffs, namely beans, corn, and sugar cane.

[1] It is located in a mountainous area known as Los Santos Zone, 70 kilometers south of the national capital city of San José.

San Marcos de Tarrazu is located in the north bank of the Pirris River, in a highland valley surrounded by mountains that are part of the Talamanca Sierra in southern Costa Rica.

Jose "Pepe" Figueres and his troops were not only headquartered in the neighboring community of Santa Maria de Dota, but the main concentration camp of political prisoners for these forces was housed in San Marcos' school.

Moreover, a vast majority of Figueres' foot soldiers were from the present-day cantons of Tarrazu, Dota, and Leon Cortes.

However, more recently tourism has flourished thanks to its pristine forests and clean rivers, the proximity to the Quepos plains and Manuel Antonio National Park.

Due to coffee picking, Nicaraguans and Panamanian Native Americans are settling in the valley in record numbers.