Under towering redwoods and bay laurels, Kourtney Boone sits in a small wood cabin brimming with puppets, fake scat and Samuel P. Taylor State Park history. The walls inside this cozy multipurpose space are covered with sepia-toned photos and fauna life cycle charts. Boone, an interpreter with the Marin County park, is surrounded by brochures that need to be updated, with archival binders and highlighted timelines to aid in the task.

But her mind is stuck on one thing: eggs.

One passage about the park’s founder in the brochure has been tormenting her for years: “Upon arrival in 1849, 22-year-old Samuel found a wooden cask filled with eggs floating near shore. He cooked the eggs and set up a food stand on the beach. Food sales proved profitable.”

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That cask reportedly launched Samuel P. Taylor’s first successful business. It also may have led to the creation of Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Founded in 1945, the nearly 2,900-acre redwood preserve in Marin County now welcomes more than 130,000 annual visitors.

Yet Boone isn’t satisfied with folklore. She wants to know if it actually happened. And if it did, where did the eggs come from?

Don't let Google decide who you trust.

Like Boone, the mystery surrounding the eggs has been plaguing me for some time. In August 2022, I camped at Samuel P. Taylor with a group of friends and read the park brochure aloud as we set up our tents. When I got to the part with the floating cask, my friends stopped me — they assumed I had made it up.

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Years later, I called the park looking for an answer, and I eventually got in touch with Boone. 

The park host office at Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

A hogshead in San Francisco

Taylor’s story originates from an unpublished manuscript of Marin County pioneers written by Bertha Stedman Rothwell. Stedman Rothwell’s mother, Bertha Stedman, was born in Lagunitas in 1880 and lived on the Taylor family property well before it was a state park. Her father worked for Taylor and helped build a number of structures on the land. She overlapped with Taylor for six years, said Boone. 

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Samuel Penfield Taylor was born on Oct. 9, 1827, in Saugerties, New York, according to the manuscript. In 1849, he sailed to California during the Gold Rush, enduring a grueling 10-month voyage around Cape Horn before arriving in San........

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