Kule Loklo

The roof of the dance house was removed in 2019. Gatherings still happen at Kule Loklo today.

NPS / A. Kopshever

Quick Facts

Location:

Point Reyes National Seashore's Kule Loklo is located 0.4 miles (0.6 kilometers) northwest of the Bear Valley Visitor Center, Point Reyes Station, Marin County, California. Geographic Coordinates: 38.0457, -122.8037

Significance:

Replica Coast Miwok Village

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

Amenities

4 listed

Benches/Seating, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Picnic Table, Restroom

What was it like to live at Point Reyes 300 years ago? Before the Europeans came to California, the Coast Miwok people were the inhabitants of what we now call Marin and southern Sonoma Counties. They knew and blended with this bountiful land for thousands of years, developing a rich economy based on gathering, fishing and hunting.

As you explore Kule Loklo, try to imagine the lives of the people who lived so intimately with the land. In the old days, a village like Kule Loklo would have been a busy place—acorns being pounded into meal by women with stone mortar and pestle, basket weavers chatting as they worked under the sun shade, cooking fires smoking with mussels baking or deer roasting, children laughing and playing, new dancers learning songs and steps in the dance house, hunters flaking obsidian for knife blades.

Visiting Kule Loklo

Kule Loklo (meaning Bear Valley) is a replica Coast Miwok village. Walk 0.4 miles (0.6 km) from the Kule Loklo Trailhead at the north end of the Bear Valley parking area to Kule Loklo.

The Coast Miwok Today

In 1953, Congress passed Public Law 280, which turned over law enforcement on California reservations to state and county agencies. By 1958, the federal government "terminated" the recognition of Coast Miwok people as well as many other tribes.

After over 40 years, the Coast Miwok are once again a federally recognized tribe. Legislation was signed in December 2000 granting the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok, full rights and privileges afforded federally recognized tribes.