Location: Tamal-liwa (Tomales Bay), CA
Region: California
Founding: 2022
Founders/leadership: Theresa Harlan
The Alliance for Felix Cove is dedicated to preserving and restoring the ancestral homelands of the Felix Family, who were the last Coast Miwok/Támal-ko family to live on the western shores of Tomales Bay at Felix Cove, known as Laird’s Landing.
At least four generations of the Coast Miwok/Támal-ko Felix Family are known to have lived at the cove, beginning with Domingo and Euphrasia (Támal-ko) Felix in the early 1800s. The Felix Family lived sustainably at the cove for generations, with vegetable gardens, farm animals, and by hunting and fishing. The family’s history includes building homes at Marshall Beach and Laird’s Landing, with extended family members living on other coves on the Marshall side of Tomales Bay. They also worked at Point Reyes Peninsula ranches as ranch hands and cooks. However, in 1956 they were forced to leave their homes due to eviction by ranchers.
Today, the Alliance aims to re-Indigenize their ancestral homelands and honor the legacy of the Felix Family. Led by Theresa Harlan, the daughter of Elizabeth Campigli Harlan and the niece of Victor Campigli, they advocate for the protection and restoration of the only remaining 19th century Coast Miwok/Támal-ko built home at Point Reyes National Seashore.
Learn more about how volunteers built a tule canoe in honor of the Felix Family and other Támal-ko families whose homelands are now called Point Reyes National Seashore.
Read more about MSC’s visit to Felix Cove on the Move Blog.
Read more about the plants and flowers of Felix Cove on the Move Blog.
