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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Lucia (California)
Lucia is a hamlet located 22 miles (35 km) south of Big Sur Village and 38 miles (61 km) north of Hearst Castle. The area is sparsely settled

The sole business active today is the Lucia Lodge, one of a very few along the south coast of Big Sur to offer accommodations to travelers. Lucia is miles away from any other business. Due to the remote location, gas prices are typically high. A small store and restaurant attached to the Lodge were destroyed by a fire in August 2021.

Wilber Judson Harlan filed the first patent for land in the area in 1885. His family has continually resided in the location and the fifth generation still operates the Lucia Lodge alongside the Big Sur Coast Highway.

History

Wedding picture of Wilbur Judson Harlan and Ada Amanda Dani

Indigenous people

The land may have first been occupied the Salinan Playano subtribe who are believed to have lived as far north as Slates Hot Springs, easterly over the Santa Lucia Mountains and Junipero Serra Peak, inland towards Soledad and as far south as what is now San Simeon. The shell middens left behind indicate that indigenous people lived in the area in numbers along the coast. Their main diet during the summer consisted of fish and shell fish, evidenced by the fine particles of shell present in the soil for a depth of several feet in areas where the Indians camped. The Salinan named the peak Pimkolam. The tribe's name is taken from the Salinas River, as the tribe did not appear to have a name for themselves.

First homesteader

Wilber Judson Harlan was born on December 14, 1860, in Rushville, Rush, Indiana. His father died when he was 21, and Wilber moved to Santa Cruz, California where his half-sister Hester Ann lived with her husband C. J. Todd. He worked in a local nursery and on a threshing machine crew in the Salinas Valley. In 1885, Harlan homesteaded in Big Sur and filed his claim of 167 acres (68 ha) in the San Francisco Land Office.

Wilber Harlan grew up on a ranch owned by his parents George and Esther Harlan on Lopez Point, a mile north of Lucia. His future wife first arrived in the Big Sur area from San Jose in 1913 to become a school teacher at the Redwood School. George volunteered to meet the new teacher at the King City rail road station in the Salinas Valley. He brought her to the coast on a two-day horseback trip that included an overnight stay in Wagon Caves# in the upper San Antonio River valley. They married and settled on the land.

The Harlan home in Lucia, California was also the post office and a branch of county library. The home was built in 1901 and burned on December 12, 1926.

Dani family

Dani Family. (L-R) daughter Mary Elizabeth, father Gabriel, daughter Lucia, and mother Elizabeth

Ada Amanda Dani married her neighbor Wilbur Harlan on July 7, 1889. They had 11 children. On March 8, 1900, the post office was opened in the home of Elizabeth and Gabriel Dani. While Lucia was postmaster, it served about 65 local residents.

In 1906, Ada became the second postmaster. She was succeeded by her daughter Lulu May Harlan who served until. George Harlan rode his horse Trixie to carry mail from Jolon to Lucia Post Office from 1922 to 1934.

The Harlan house burned down on December 12, 1926. The post office was closed in 1932. Soon after, the Dani house burned down. The Benedictine Order of Camaldolese monks acquired the Lucia Ranch property in 1958. The hermitage became known as the Immaculate Heart Hermitage.

Remote region

Due to the difficult terrain and lack of access, settlement of the Big Sur region was primarily concentrated in the north near the Big Sur River and in the south near Lucia. About two or three dozen individual homesteads dotted a 25 miles (40 km) stretch of coast between the two in the 1890s. The California coast south of Posts and north of San Simeon remained one of the most remote regions in the state, rivaling at the time nearly any other region in the United States for its difficult access.

Before the completion of the coast highway, Wagon Cave was used as a resting point and overnight camp site for those traveling to and from the coast. Travelers on horseback switched to wagons stored there for the purpose of transporting goods to market and provisions home. From the Caves there was a 18 miles (29 km) wagon road to Jolon. In 1878, Jolon had two grocers, a butcher, a blacksmith, a harness maker, a general merchandise store, post office, and Wells Fargo station. When the Southern Pacific Railroad was extended in 1886 to Soledad, travelers could then ride their wagons or a stage 37 miles (60 km) north. The families brought back supplies necessary to sustain their remote lives.

William Randolph Hearst developed an interest in acquiring more land to add to the ranch his father George Hearst had purchased, but Harlen refused to sell.

Lucia Lodge

The lodge was built in the 1930s by Forest Delamater who leased the land from Wilber Harlan. In 1936, the Lucia Post Office reopened at the newly constructed Lucia Lodge but subsequently closed again in 1938. In 1937, the Lucia store opened coinciding with the opening of Big Sur Coast Highway. Lucia also had a gas station as well.

The Lucia Lodge consists of ten cabins situated on a 300-foot cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The fifth generation Harlan descendants still operate the cabins. The Honeymoon Cabin (Unit 10) has exceptionally good views. The rooms do not have televisions or telephones. It is rumored that the lodge is haunted. Lucia Lodge included a general store and a restaurant facing the ocean that served lunch and dinner year round and breakfast only in the summer. Both were heavily damaged by a fire in August 2021. The cabins located 100 yards north of the restaurant were not damaged.

In 2019, the Netflix series Ratched, a prequel to One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was filmed on site at the lodge. The lodge saw a spike in bookings following the release of the series.

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lucia, California
  2. ^ Brown, A. (2004). Writers' and Artists' Hideouts: Great Getaways for Seducing the Muse. Linden Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-61035-116-4. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  3. ^ Jensen, J. (2018). Road Trip USA Pacific Coast Highway. Avalon Publishing. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-64049-383-4. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  4. ^ Brown, A.M. (2009). Monterey and Carmel: Including Santa Cruz and Big Sur. Moon Handbooks Series. Avalon Publishing. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-56691-995-1. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  5. ^ Heid, A.E. (2013). Hiking and Backpacking Big Sur: A Complete Guide to the Trails of Big Sur, Ventana Wilderness, and Silver Peak Wilderness. Wilderness Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-89997-727-0. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  6. ^ "Lucia Lodge, Big Sur, California". Lucia Lodge. 2021-08-10. Archived from the original on 2021-11-30. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  7. ^ Thornton, S. (2016). Moon Monterey & Carmel: Including Santa Cruz & Big Sur. Moon Handbooks. Avalon Publishing. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-63121-244-4. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  8. ^ "Fire burns through restaurant, store at historic Lucia Lodge on southern Big Sur Coast". The Mercury News (in Kinyarwanda). 2021-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  9. ^ Jewell, Jennifer (October 12, 2018). "Obi Kaufmann & The California Field Atlas; Botanical Artistry Of October, Part 2". Cultivating Place (Podcast). North State Public Radio. Retrieved February 13, 2019 – via SoundCloud.
  10. ^ Kaufmann, Obi (2017a). The California Field Atlas. Heyday Books. ISBN 978-1-59714-402-5.
  11. ^ "Wagon Cave". Passport in Time. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  12. ^ Mason, J. Alden (1856). "The Ethnology of the Salinan Indians" (PDF).
  13. ^ Coventry, K. (2002). Monterey Peninsula: The Golden Age. Images of America. Arcadia. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-7385-2080-3. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  14. ^ To Designate the Big Sur National Scenic Area and Other Miscellaneous Bills: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands, Reserved Water, and Resource Conservation of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-ninth Congress, Second Session, on S. 767 ... S. 2159 ... H.J. Res. 666 ... July 31, 1986. S. hrg. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1987. p. 136. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  15. ^ Schmalz, David (13 December 2018). "Stan Harlan". Monterey County Weekly. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  16. ^ Norman, J.; Society, B.S.H. (2004). Big Sur. Images of America (in German). Arcadia. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7385-2913-4. Archived from the original on 2022-04-02. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  17. ^ JRP Historical Consulting Services (November 2001). "Big Sur Highway Management Plan" (PDF). Corridor Intrinsic Qualities Inventory Historic Qualities Summary Report. CalTrans. p. 38. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  18. ^ "Monterey County Historical Society, Local History Pages--Overview of Post-Hispanic Monterey County History". www.mchsmuseum.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2006. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  19. ^ "Trip Suggestions For The Big Sur Backcountry". www.ventanawild.org. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  20. ^ Woolfenden, John (1981). Big Sur: A Battle for the Wilderness 1869–1981. Pacific Grove, California: The Boxwood Press. p. 72.
  21. ^ Steakley, D. (2011). Photographing Big Sur: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them. The Photographer's Guide. Countryman Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-58157-941-3. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  22. ^ Woolfenden, J. (1981). Big Sur: A Battle for the Wilderness, 1869-1981. Boxwood Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-910286-87-9. Archived from the original on 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  23. ^ Coleman, Mary (2020-10-15). "Lucia Lodge seeing spike in business following release of 'Ratched' – KION546". KION546. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  24. ^ "Fire destroys restaurant at the historic Lucia Lodge in Big Sur". Monterey County Weekly. 2021-08-11. Archived from the original on 2021-11-21. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lucia Lodge.

Additional reading

  • Harlan, Stanley, My Mom and Dad on the south coast of Big Sur 2018 ISBN 9781729077528
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