Big Sur
The Last Wild Coast · Monterey County
Big Sur — the 90-mile stretch of rugged coastline between Carmel and San Simeon — was one of California's last frontiers. The Esselen people called its canyons home for millennia. Spanish settlers called the wilderness 'El País Grande del Sur' (the big country of the south). Highway 1 didn't reach it until 1937.
Timeline
The Esselen People
The Esselen Nation, one of the smallest and most isolated Native groups in California, lived in the canyons and ridges of the Santa Lucia Mountains for at least 3,000 years. Numbering only around 1,000 people at contact, they were one of the first California tribes to face near-extinction through the mission system.
Homesteaders & Artists
After the mission era, Big Sur attracted rugged homesteaders farming steep terraces and raising cattle. In the early 20th century, artists and writers — including Robinson Jeffers and later Henry Miller — were drawn to its isolation and dramatic scenery. Miller's 'Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch' (1957) captures the spirit of the place.
Highway 1 Opens
The completion of the coastal highway through Big Sur — built by convict labor and CCC workers during the Great Depression — opens the coast to tourists for the first time. The Bixby Creek Bridge, completed in 1932 as part of the project, becomes one of the most photographed bridges in the world.
Then & Now
Archive photos paired with the same place today.
Visit these historical sites
Real places in our directory connected to Big Sur.
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