Pinole is a city in Contra Costa County, California, in the western part of the county on the east side of San Francisco Bay, along the shore of San Pablo Bay. Home to about 19,000 residents, it is a small East Bay city with a history that reaches back centuries before its suburban growth. The area's recorded history begins in the early 1700s, when the region was inhabited by Ohlone peoples, and its name is the Spanish word for cornmeal, a staple food of the early era. During the 1850s, settler Bernardo Fernandez built the Fernandez Mansion, which still stands today, and the community grew into a small but thriving settlement. The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1878 and the establishment of the California Powder Works accelerated its development, and the explosive-powder industry operated for decades at what is now Point Pinole. Today Pinole is a dense-suburban residential city whose Historic Old Town preserves the character of its 19th-century center. Its schools are part of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, including Pinole Middle School and Pinole Valley High School. The city is best known outdoors for Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, a roughly 2,400-acre bayfront park with trails, meadows, and shoreline views operated by the East Bay Regional Park District. Situated along Interstate 80, Pinole connects directly to San Francisco and Oakland to the west and Sacramento to the east, while the nearby Richmond-San Rafael Bridge opens the route to Marin County. For homebuyers, Pinole offers bayfront parkland, a historic downtown, and a convenient East Bay location.