Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

Infobox_protected_area | name = Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
iucn_category =


caption = A view of the park beach
locator_x =
locator_y =
location = Monterey County, California, USA
nearest_city = Monterey
lat_degrees = 36
lat_minutes = 10
lat_seconds = 15
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 121
long_minutes = 40
long_seconds = 23
long_direction = W
area = convert|3762.16|acre|km2
established = 1962
governing_body = California State Parks

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is a state-protected park in Big Sur, located in Monterey County, California. The park is administered and maintained by California State Parks. It is located convert|37|mi|km south of Carmel and covers over convert|3000|acre|km2 of land. A main feature of the park is McWay Falls, which drops over a cliff 80 feet (24.4 m) into the Pacific Ocean. The park is named after Julia Pfeiffer Burns, a respected resident and rancher in the Big Sur region in the early 20th century, who lived in the area for much of her life until her death in 1928.

Location and history

The park is located on land that was originally called the Saddle Rock Ranch, because of the rock formation that resembles a saddle in McWay Cove. Christopher McWay and his wife Rachel originally settled the area in the late 19th century. The land passed through several owners until former U.S. House Representative Lathrop Brown and his wife Helen acquired it in 1924. The Browns constructed an elaborate stone house in McWay Cove, one of the first electrified dwellings in Big Sur, powered by the McWay stream. They befriended Julia Pfeiffer-Burns, a local resident, and dedicated the property to her memory in their 1961 bequest to the State of California. The house was torn down as the Browns requested in their will, but some of the walls and fragments of stone staircases remain. [Henson, Paul and Usner, Donald. "The Natural History of Big Sur" 1993, University of California Press; Berkeley, California; pp. 328-29]

References

ee also

*Big Sur
*List of California state parks

External links

* [http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=578 Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park official website]
* [http://montereybay.noaa.gov/visitor/access/jPheiffer.html NOAA Information]
* [http://www.trailspotting.com/2007/11/julia-pfeiffer-burns-state-park.html Trailspotting: Hiking Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park] Hike description & photos

Further reading

Verduin, Pamela and Ulrich, Larry. "Big Sur to Big Basin: California's Dramatic Central Coast" 1998. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0811819664