Stories from my Childhood in Big Sur

Stories from my Childhood in Big Sur

The youngest of three brothers, Stanley Vernon Harlan was the third generation of his family to call the south coast of Big Sur home. His parents, George and Esther Harlan, owned and operated a coastal cattle ranch at Lopez Point on the magnificent but unforgiving Pacific coast. At the time of Stan’s birth in 1927, Highway One did not exist. A trip to town meant navigating narrow coastal trails north to Monterey or east over the Santa Lucia Mountains to King City by horseback over two days. As a child, he attended a one-room school house and watched the progress of Highway One’s construction as crews worked with dynamite and heavy machinery from the north and south to build the roadway. Storytelling was integral to his pioneer family’s way of live—recounting the adventures and mishaps that accompanied everyday activities on the rugged land. Realizing the impermanence of this oral tradition Stan has spent much of his older adult life documenting his family story. In this book he captures 52 stories with assorted historic photographs recounting fond memories of a childhood spent on California's Big Sur south coast in the early to mid 1900s.