to the south, James Winans, moved away from the area around 1870, Parsons 

 moved Winans' house to his property and joined it to the south wall of the 

 original house. Parsons and his family resided here for many years. Mrs. 

 Denman's grandson Earl Lupton sold the house and lot to William Pinkerton in 

 1964, who renovated the house, enclosing an open porch on the front and 

 somewhat modernizing the interior and adding a larger window on the front. 83 



The Benevenga house originated as the Olema School, serving families in 

 the Olema Valley and Bolinas Ridge area since about 1860. To avoid confusion 

 with the Garcia School in the town of Olema, the name was changed to the 

 Five Brooks School in 1915; Garcia School then took the name Olema School. 

 The first Olema School was built about 1860 on the road south of the highway 

 bridges opposite today's Giacomini Ranch. Some time between 1873 and 1895 a 

 second schoolhouse was built on the Parsons Ranch across the county road from 

 the Parsons residence. The new school served the mid-valley families until 

 closing in 1927, and then stood empty for almost a decade. John and Ella 

 Denman moved the property including the schoolhouse to a lot across the state 

 highway and did some minor remodeling, then rented it as a vacation cottage 

 for a short time. The Denmans sold the schoolhouse to Ralph and Emma 

 Benevenga in 1938; the Benevengas remodeled it into a home and moved there 

 permanently in 1941. Emma Benevenga, a prominent West Marin citizen and 

 sister of neighbor William Pinkerton, no longer occupies the house at this 

 writing; it is rented to a tenant. 84 



3. Buildings and Historic Resources 



Four historic buildings and a historic orchard make up the 

 Pinkerton/Benevenga complex. 



The Pinkerton house is composed of two houses joined together, one 

 north and one south, as well as a shed garage attached to the west. The 



83 Plat of Rancho Tomales y Baulines, 1858, PRNS; files of Marin County Recorders Office; 

 interviews with Earl L. Lupton, William Pinkerton and Emma Benevenga. 



"School Registers, Marin County Office of Education; Gerald J. Foley and Perry McDonald, 

 Pictorial History of Marin County Schools (no publisher noted, 1976), pp. 17, 35; "Plat . . . Bolinas 

 to Olema," 1867, California Historical Society; "Official Map of Marin County," 1873, PRNS; Point 

 Reyes Quadrangle map, U. S. G. S., 1916; interview with Emma Benevenga. 



187 



