Skip to main content

HISTORY OF BIG SUR COAST

  A new dawn:              Locals had long called for a road along the coast to aid shipwreck victims and improve access to isolated communities.  Construction started in 1919, and 18 years, 32 tonnes of dynamite and 33 bridges later, the Big Sur stretch of California Highway One was complete.               The implausible route, with its myriad twists and turns and dramatic drop-offs, became an instant classic.  The author and painter Henry Miller fled to Big Sur in 1944 and stayed for nearly two decades.  Photographer Edward Weston and Beat Generation bard Jack Kerouac fell under its spell.  By the late 1960’s San Francisco’s counterculture revolution had swept down to Big Sur, and the likes of Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell performed on the cliff tops.              ...
Post a Comment

HISTORY OF BIG SUR COAST

 A new dawn:

Big Sur Coast

             Locals had long called for a road along the coast to aid shipwreck victims and improve access to isolated communities.  Construction started in 1919, and 18 years, 32 tonnes of dynamite and 33 bridges later, the Big Sur stretch of California Highway One was complete. 

             The implausible route, with its myriad twists and turns and dramatic drop-offs, became an instant classic.  The author and painter Henry Miller fled to Big Sur in 1944 and stayed for nearly two decades.  Photographer Edward Weston and Beat Generation bard Jack Kerouac fell under its spell.  By the late 1960’s San Francisco’s counterculture revolution had swept down to Big Sur, and the likes of Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell performed on the cliff tops.

               Much of Big Sur is now protected within the confines of the Ventana Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and half a dozen state parks.  Cruising down Highway One is a quintessential California experience.  And Big Sur itself remains much as it always was: awesome, astonishing and surprisingly pristine.

Where on earth?

              Big Sur lies about 150 miles (240 km) south of San Francisco and 300 miles (480 km) north of Los Angeles.  It is not served by public transport; visitors must drive themselves or join a private group tour.  Accommodation is limited, but several of the state parks have camp sites.
Location: Big Sur, CA, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ANTARCTIC PENINSULA

  Ice and snow sculptures:                 Despite the summer thaw, large snow and ice fields persist throughout the year, both on the islands that fringe the peninsula and in the mountains on the mainland, and giant glaciers move inexorably to the sea.   Wind, sea, rain, and sun mould these natural features to create the enchanting ice sculptures that moved Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen to describe this as a ‘land [that] looks like a fairy tale’.                                At Jougla Point, deep snowfields, precipitous snow cliffs and snow cornices with the fluffy smoothness of meringues dominate the natural harbour of Port Lockroy in the Palmer Archipelago.   In Paradise Bay, glaciers end in towering ice cliffs that plummet into the sea, groaning and creaking as crev...
Post a Comment
Read more

AMAZON THEATRE

  From decay to rebirth:                         The rubber boom was not to last. As production moved to plantations in Asia and Africa, the fortunes of Manaus warned.  With the invention of synthetic rubber, they vanished.  In 1907, a mere decade after that first operatic performance, the theatre saw its last.  And the lights went out not just on the theatre, but on the whole city as it could not afford to run its generators.                            Decay rapidly set in as the theatre fell prey to termites and the humid climate.  Renovation was attempted in 1929 and again in 1974, but it was 1988 before a successful project got underway.  Two years and $8 million later, opera finally returned to the stage the...
Post a Comment
Read more

HISTORY OF BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE

  Dangerous Shores:                   The Scottish coastline, with its submerged rocky moraines, is known for its hazards to navigation.   The Bell Rock (also known as Inchcape Rock) extends 427 m (1,400 ft) across the shipping routes between the firths of the Forth and Tay, and is particularly insidious because, except at low tide, it lies completely hidden by the waves.   From the earliest days of sail, shipwrecks here were common.   A local legend tells of a 14 th Century abbot of Aberbrothock (modern Arbroath) who ordered a bell to be hung on a timber buoy attached to the rock, where its clanging in the restless waves would serve as a warning.   The structure gave the rock its name, but did not last long.   By the 18 th Century, ship losses on the coasts around Britain were so frequent that merchants lobbied Parliament in Westminster to build lighthouses.   This led to the establishment, in 1786, of th...
Post a Comment
Read more