The Wilkins Ranch, after more than 100 years under the control of only 

 two generations of the family, was sold on December 29, 1970, to Nicholas 

 Charney, founder of Psychology Today and at the time publisher of The 

 Saturday Review. Members of the Wilkins family retained a 30-acre parcel 

 south of the ranch complex but were unable to legally build on the land. 19 



Charney and his friends transformed the Wilkins Ranch into a communal 

 experiment in creative agriculture and living; the occupants christened it 

 Rancho Baulines after the name of the original land grant. A news reporter 

 described the endeavor as one given energy by the young "New Pioneers" who 

 arrived, "drawn to its beauty and excited by its potential as an agricultural 

 community." In 1972 fourteen people lived at the ranch, working on an organic 

 garden, planting crops, remodeling the 100-year-old barns into living spaces, and 

 running a horse-boarding operation. The old water system, carrying water from 

 Lewis Gulch to the ranch complex, was rehabilitated. Ruth Rathbun, a 

 granddaughter of W. W. Wilkins, and her husband Rex Rathbun managed the 

 ranch, and Mary Tiscornia, who had settled on the ranch before the sale to 

 Charney, operated the horse facilities. Meanwhile, the National Park Service 

 created Golden Gate National Recreation Area and included the Wilkins Ranch 

 within its boundaries. 20 



After a number of business reverses, Charney was unable to keep up his 

 payments to the family and sold a two-month option on the property to the 

 Trust for Public Lands in 1973; the land was transferred to the National Park 

 Service in July of that year. Mary Tiscornia, the last of the 1970s occupants to 

 remain on the ranch, has been raising a small number of beef cattle and 

 keeping her many horses on the property, as well as rehabilitating many of the 

 buildings. Tiscornia operates under a lease administered by Point Reyes 

 National Seashore. 21 



19 Official Records. Book 2426, pp. 171 and 183, MCRO. 

 20 Point Reyes Light. August 3, 1972. 

 "'Official Records Book 2709, p. 663, MCRO. 



83 



