Tomales Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, Presbyterian church and cemetery in Tomales, California, United States.
Tomales Presbyterian Church is a white wooden building with a distinctive bell tower structure in Marin County, California. The main building and adjacent cemetery occupy a quiet rural setting that reflects the plain character of early religious buildings from this region.
A congregation formed on May 1, 1865, under Reverend Alexander Fairbairn and built Marin County's first Protestant church in 1866; it burned just before dedication. The present church, rebuilt on the same site and dedicated in April 1868, survived the 1906 earthquake and two town fires that destroyed many buildings in Tomales.
The cemetery opened in 1864 as the Protestant Cemetery and stayed legally separate from the congregation until it was deeded to the church in 1944. The church itself was first organized on 1 May 1865 under Reverend Alexander Fairbairn, and the congregation built Marin County's first Protestant church building the following year.
The church sits on Church Street in Tomales and is easily accessible by car, with parking available near the entrance. Visitors can explore the grounds on foot and view both the cemetery and the surrounding landscape.
The bell in the tower was cast by Rumsey and Company of Seneca Falls, New York, and the tower rises more than 50 feet (15 m). The sources record the maker and the tower's height but say nothing about when the bell was installed or whether it still rings.
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