Jump to content

Big Sur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Scooterboss (talk | contribs) at 02:21, 24 February 2006 (made a stab at tightening up the prose). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

View of Lucia, Big Sur.
File:Big sur south coast.jpg
South Coast of Big Sur.

Big Sur is a section of the central California coast and adjacent mountains, typically considered to run for 90 miles (145km) between Carmel and San Simeon. It is characterized by the abrupt rise of coastal mountains, locally named the Santa Lucia Range, from the Pacific Ocean. This geology produces stunning views and has become a magnet for global tourism. Big Sur has the steepest coastal elevation increase in the lower 48 states, where Cone Peak rises nearly a mile (5,155 feet/1.6km) above sea level, only 3 miles (4.8km) from the ocean. The mountains trap most of the moisture out of the clouds, often in the form of morning fogs, creating a favorable environment for forests, including the southernmost habitat of the coast redwood. Farther inland, in the rain shadow, the conifer forests disappear and the vegetation becomes open oak woodland, then transitions into the more familiar fire-tolerant California chaparral scrub.

History

File:Mcwaycove.jpg
McWay Cove and waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
File:Bigsurmap.gif
Map of Big Sur

The Esselen group of Native Americans were the first people to inhabit Big Sur. Archeological evidence shows that they lived in Big Sur for thousands of years, leading a nomadic, hunter-gatherer existence. It is believed that most tribe members died out from introduced European diseases or forced labor and malnutrition at the Spanish missions in the 18th century, and any remaining members assimilated with Spanish and Mexican ranchers in the 19th century.

The first Europeans to see Big Sur were Spanish mariners led by Juan Cabrillo in 1542, who sailed up the coast without landing. It was not until 1769 that an expedition led by Gaspar de Portolà was documented as setting foot in Big Sur, in the far south near San Carpoforo Canyon. Daunted by the sheer cliffs, his party avoided the area and pressed far inland. Portola landed in Monterey Bay in 1770, and with Father Junipero Serra, who helped found most of the missions in California, established the colony of Monterey, which soon became the capital of Spanish California. Big Sur was named soon after, because the Spanish called the region el país grande del sur, or the "Big South Country" because it was a vast, unexplored, and impenetrable region south of their capital at Monterey.

Along with the rest of California, Big Sur became part of Mexico when it gained independence from Spain in 1821. In 1834, the Mexican governor José Figueroa granted a 9000-acre rancho in northern Big Sur to Juan Bautista Alvardo, and his uncle by marriage, Captain J.B.R Cooper, soon after assumed ownership. The oldest surviving structure in Big Sur, the so-called Cooper Cabin, was built in 1861 on the Cooper ranch. Two other large Mexican land grants were never locally settled.

In 1848, as a result of the Mexican-American War, Mexico ceded California to the United States. After passage of the federal Homestead Act in 1862, a few hardy pioneers moved into Big Sur, drawn by the promise of free 160-acre parcels. Many local sites are named after the settlers from this period - Pfeiffer, Post, Partington, and McWay are common place names.

From the 1860's through the first decades of the 20th century, lumbering cut down most of the coast redwoods. Along with industries based on tanoak bark harvesting, gold mining, and limestone processing, the local economy provided more jobs and supported a larger population than today. A gold rush boomtown, Manchester, sprang up at Alder Creek in the far south, with four stores, a restaurant, five saloons, a dance hall, and a hotel, but it did not survive long into the 20th century. There were no reliable roads to supply these industries, so local entrepreneurs built small boat landings at a few coves along the coast. None of these landings remain today, and there are few other signs of this brief industrial period visible to the casual traveler. The rugged, isolated terrain kept all but the sturdiest and most self-sufficient settlers out. A 30-mile trip to Monterey could take three days by wagon, over a rough and dangerous track.

After the industrial boom faded, the early decades of the 20th century passed with few changes, and Big Sur remained a nearly inaccessible wilderness. In the 1920's, only one home in the entire Big Sur region was documented as having electricity (generated by a water wheel), and most residents did not have power until connections to the California electric grid were established in the early 1950s. Big Sur changed rapidly when Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, was completed in 1937 after eighteen years of construction, aided by New Deal funds and the use of convict labor. Highway 1 dramatically altered the local economy and brought the outside world much closer, with ranches and farms quickly giving way to tourist venues and second homes. Even with these modernizations, Big Sur managed to be spared the worst excesses of development, due in no small part to foresighted residents who fought to keep the land unspoiled. From its inception, all billboards were banned on Highway 1. The locals vigorously opposed a proposal to widen the highway to four lanes in the mid-20th century, and then adopted one of the country's most stringent land use plans, prohibiting any new construction within sight of the highway.

In the mid-20th century, Big Sur's relative isolation and natural beauty began to attract a different kind of pioneer - writers and artists, most notably Henry Miller, Robinson Jeffers, Edward Weston, Richard Brautigan and Jack Kerouac. The region also became home to centers of study and contemplation - a Catholic monastery, the New Camaldoli Hermitage, founded in 1958, and the Esalen Institute, a workshop and retreat center established in 1962. Esalen hosted many figures of the nascent "New Age," and in the 60's, played an important role in popularizing Eastern philosophies, the "human potential movement," EST and Gestalt therapy in the United States. Big Sur acquired a bohemian reputation with these newcomers. Henry Miller recounted that a traveler knocked on his door, looking for the "cult of sex and anarchy." Apparently finding neither, the disappointed visitor returned home.

Big Sur remains sparsely populated, with fewer than 1500 inhabitants, according to the 2000 US Census. The people of Big Sur today are a diverse mix: descendants of the orginal settler and rancher families, artists and other creative types, along with wealthy homeowners from the worlds of entertainment and commerce. There are no urban areas, although three small clusters of gas stations, restaurants, and motels are often marked on maps as "towns": Big Sur, in the Big Sur River valley, Lucia, near Limekiln State park, and Gorda, on the southern coast. The economy is almost completely based on tourism. Much of the land along the coast is privately owned or has been donated to the state park system, and the vast Los Padres National Forest encompasses the inland portions and the higher mountain areas. The mountainous terrain, environmentally conscious residents, and lack of property available for development have kept Big Sur almost unspoiled, and it retains an isolated, frontier mystique.

Climate

It is impossible to generalize about the weather in Big Sur, because the jagged topography causes many separate microclimates. This is one of the few places on Earth where redwoods grow within sight of cacti. Still, Big Sur typically enjoys a mild climate year-round, with a sunny, dry summer and fall, and a cool, wet winter. Coastal temperatures vary little during the year, ranging in the 50's to 70's (Fahrenheit) from June through October, and in the 40's to 60's from November through May. Annual precipitation in the Big Sur Valley is about 40 inches (100cm), but the rainfall diminishes further to the south to about 20 inches. Nearly all (70% or more) of the rain in the region falls from December through March, while weeks or months can pass without any rain during the summer. Snow or frost is almost nonexistent in the coastal areas, although the mountaintops can receive heavy snowfalls. During winter, the abundant rains cause rock and mudslides that can cut off portions of Highway 1 for days or weeks, but the road is usually quickly repaired.

Tourism

View southwards along Highway 1
Bixby Bridge looking south from Highway 1

Most of the 3 million travelers visting Big Sur annually do not venture far from Highway 1, because the Santa Lucia mountain range to the east is the largest roadless area near a coast in the lower 48 states. The highway winds along the western flank of the mountains almost completely within sight of the Pacific Ocean, varying from a few dozen to a thousand-foot sheer drop to the water. Since gazing at the views while driving is not advisable, the highway features a number of strategically placed turnouts allowing motorists to stop and admire the landscape. Indeed, the section of Highway 1 running through Big Sur is widely considered as one of the most scenic driving routes in the United States, if not the world.

Tourist facilities in Big Sur are limited and fill up quickly during the busy summer season. Accommodations tend to be rustic cabins, motels, and campgrounds, or costly, exclusive five-star resorts frequented by Hollywood types (and those who can afford to live like them), with little in between. Most lodging and restaurants are concentrated in the Big Sur river valley, where Highway 1 leaves the coast for a few miles and winds into a redwood forest. In addition to sightseeing from the highway, Big Sur offers a wealth of hiking, mountain climbing, and other outdoor activities. The few beaches are popular for walking, but usually unsuitable for swimming because of unpredictable currents and frigid temperatures.

List of state parks (north to south)

Trivia

  • Orson Welles and his then-wife Rita Hayworth bought a Big Sur cabin on impulse during a trip down the coast in 1944. They never spent a single night there, and the property is now the location of a popular restaurant.
  • Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in The Sandpiper shot on location in Big Sur in 1965. The film featured a square dance scene on the outdoor terrace of the same restaurant.

References

  • The Natural History of Big Sur, Paul Henson and Donald J. Usher, University of California Press (1993), 416 pages, ISBN 0520205103
  • Big Sur, Jack Kerouac, Penguin Books, Reprint edition (1962, reprinted 1992), 256 pages, ISBN 0140168125
  • Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, Henry Miller, New Directions Publishing Corp (1957), 404 pages, ISBN 0811201074
  • A Wild Coast and Lonely: Big Sur Pioneers, Rosalind Sharpe Wall, Wide World Publishing, (1989, reprinted April 1992), 264 pages, ISBN 0933174837
  • Big Sur: Images of America, Jeff Norman, Big Sur Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing (2004), 128 pages, ISBN 0738529133
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Big_Sur&oldid=40953653"