Early Inhabitants: The First Stewards of Big Sur

Long before the Spanish named it El País Grande del Sur, meaning “The Big Country of the South,” Native American tribes thrived here for thousands of years.

Three primary tribes made their homes along the coast and inland valleys:

• The Ohlone (Costanoans): from San Francisco to Point Sur
• The Esselen: between Point Sur and Big Creek, stretching inland to the upper Carmel River
• The Salinan: from Big Creek to San Carpoforo Creek

These communities lived in harmony with the land, sustained by acorns, ocean fish, and river catch, and grounded in spiritual traditions that honored the natural world. Their balance with nature continues to define Big Sur’s identity today.

Spanish and Mexican Influence

Spanish exploration began with Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542 and continued with Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602, yet Big Sur’s rugged terrain kept it largely isolated until the late eighteenth century.

In 1770, Father Junípero Serra established Mission San Carlos near present-day Carmel, bringing the Ohlone, Esselen, and Salinan peoples into mission life and transforming native culture.

When Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, mission lands were secularized into vast ranchos, shaping land use patterns that still define the Central Coast. The region became a landscape of cattle ranching, subsistence farming, and enduring families whose names echo through Big Sur’s canyons and ridgelines: Soberanes, Molera, Cooper, Pfeiffer, Castro, Burns, and Gamboa.

The Post Legacy and Early Homesteaders

In the mid-nineteenth century, a young sailor from Connecticut named William (Bill) Post arrived in Monterey. After marrying Anselma Onesimo, a Rumsen Indian woman, the couple homesteaded at Soberanes Creek in 1858, building a cabin that became the birthplace of their son, Charles Francis Post, in 1859.

The Post family helped define early life in Big Sur: self-sufficient, resilient, and deeply connected to the land. Their descendants remain part of the region’s living legacy, with The Post House still standing near the highway turnoff to Ventana and Post Ranch Inn occupying the family’s historic land across Highway 1.

Bohemia on the Coast: Beatniks, Hippies, and the Modern Spirit

In the twentieth century, Big Sur’s isolation gave way to cultural awakening. The 1937 construction of Highway 1, built largely by convict labor, opened the coast to the world and to a new generation of artists and free thinkers.

By the 1940s, Henry Miller had made Big Sur his refuge, and his book Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch inspired the Beat Generation to follow. By the 1960s, hippies and spiritual seekers arrived, shaping Big Sur’s modern identity as a place of New Age mysticism, environmental awareness, and creative exploration.

The result is a cultural lineage unlike any other, where literary history, counterculture, and natural beauty coexist.

Big Sur Today

Electricity did not reach Big Sur until the 1950s, and even now, much of the region remains off the grid. Roughly 300 square miles of state parks, national forests, and unincorporated land protect its wild character.

Today, about 1,000 residents, descendants of early settlers, artists, conservationists, and those simply drawn to its quiet, call this region home. Their shared commitment to preserving Big Sur’s landscape keeps the “Big Country of the South” largely unspoiled and timeless.

Here, history is not confined to the past. It continues to shape the way Big Sur breathes, inspires, and endures.