Novato highlight
Proximity to open space
Muir Woods National Monument, 550 acres of old-growth coast redwoods, lies within Marin County just outside Novato's immediate reach, one of 37 sites in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Muir Woods National Monument, located in Mill Valley just southwest of Novato, protects 550 acres of old-growth coast redwoods—Sequoia sempervirens, the tallest living trees on Earth. The National Park Service established federal protection for the site in 1908, naming it after naturalist John Muir. Visitors walk among trees over 200 feet tall, along boardwalks through Redwood Creek's canyon, through a landscape that has occupied the homelands of the Coast Miwok people.
Muir Woods is one of 37 natural and historic sites that make up the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which spans more than 130 miles of trails across Marin County and beyond. The recreation area encompasses the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, the Point Reyes National Seashore (over 1,500 plant and animal species), and rolling grasslands and forested ridges that draw hikers, cyclists, and families year-round. The park system directly supports the region's identity: these protected lands are why Marin County became known for conservation and environmental stewardship.
For people building a life in Novato, proximity to open space is not just scenery—it shapes how families spend time and plan around each other. A child who learns to hike in redwoods, a weekend spent on Marin trails with people you love, a home chosen partly for what surrounds it. Protecting those years and those connections is what a term life insurance policy does: it ensures that if something happens to you, the people who depend on your income can hold onto the home and the life you built together.