Journalist. Mother. Bunny enthusiast. Pop culture junkie.

Journalist. Mother. Bunny enthusiast. Pop culture junkie.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Tale of Glass Beach

Sometimes one generation's trash is another generation's treasure.

Literally.

This sentiment perfectly describes one of nature's most fascinating corrections of man's mistakes.

Glass Beach, over in Fort Bragg, California, is one of the most unique places in the world.


Instead of cascading ripples of powdery sand, the crystal blue waves crash over small glistening trinkets of rainbow-colored glass.


You see, in the early 20th century, Fort Bragg residents threw their household garbage over the cliffs, onto the beach. It was basically used as the city dump. They discarded glass, appliances, and even cars onto the beautiful shores.

Of course, something like that would be absolutely unheard of today, but back then nobody thought twice about it. Save the ocean? Pffffft. That hippie concept didn't come about until decades later.


Well, in 1967, the city finally realized dumping trash onto a perfectly good beach was a mistake. The North Coast Water Quality Board got involved and closed the beach. Clean-up began.


Over the next several decades, Mother Nature reclaimed the beach. The pounding waves cleansed the beach, wearing down the discarded glass into the small smooth colored trinkets that sparkle on the sunny shores today.


In 2003, the California State Park system purchased the property, after more massive clean-up.

The beach is now a treasure trove for tourists, who flock to the beach to admire its glistening, colorful beauty and (even though it's illegal) steal a glass trinket from underneath their feet as a souvenir.


What are your thoughts on Glass Beach? Have you ever been there? Do you want to go?

32 comments:

creativefashionglee said...

Thank you so much for saring this, I never heard of it before and man, what a beauty. I got to sahre this post at my fb page. :)

Sarah said...

This is amazing!
x

Alex Byer said...

That's the most beautiful beach. What an amazing story. Your brain is full of all of the best knowledge.

Chicago Chic said...

Wow that's so amazing!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, I've never heard anything like this. It's so cool, and I'm glad people actually cleaned it up. Definitely on my list of places to go! Thanks for sharing!

A Very Sweet Blog said...

i knew nothing about this jenn! it's so beautiful. looks like jewels on the beach. hahaha i'm sure it makes it harder to walk on. girl, i will be covering cincy the rest of this week, so you'll see a lot! that's so cool about your dad. :D
http://www.averysweetblog.com/

Josie said...

How pretty! I'd love to visit.
xo Josie
www.winksmilestyle.com

Mimi said...

wow, i've never been there and i've actually never heard of it, so thank you sooooo much for sharing this with us! this is awesome, i would love to go there! :D

<3, Mimi
http://whatmimiwrites.blogspot.com/
Spirit Ink Tattoos Giveaway
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little luxury list said...

How strange, yet I love that a place that was a dump is now a beautiful site (hopefully this doesn't encourage more littering!)

xoxo,
Chic 'n Cheap Living

Sherin said...

I would love to go there one day. It looks amazing.

sherene said...

I'd love to go!!!
:)

Couture Carrie said...

So amazing!
Love sea glass!

xoxox,
CC

Unknown said...

Beautiful! I admit I would be tempted to steal a piece ; o )

Cafe Fashionista said...

This is the first time I am even hearing of Glass Beach, but oh...how I want to go there. It is beautiful!! :)

Jaime @ laviejaime said...

omgosh my mom is obsessed w/ sea glas...i have to share this with her. she will die!

bridechic said...

This is a very interesting post! I live in California and Ft. Bragg is just up the coast aways. Never knew this about the Fort town though

Rachel @ The Haute Notes said...

Oh, wow! That's so amazing! I definitely want to go check it out!

Oh to Be a Muse said...

If I ever take a road trip up to Seattle then I will definitely stop at Glass Beach in Fort Bragg on my way. I might even steal a souvenir.

Blond Duck said...

I want to go!!!!!

Not Just Another Milla said...

I'd never heard of this place. What a story! Thanks for sharing.

The Dainty Dolls House said...

I want to go, looks amazing x

David Macaulay said...

wow - this is pretty - great post. I must go there...

Bronzed Humanity said...

AWESOMMEEEE I def gotta go there! Thats freakin pretty!
xx

Hot Pink Day
Libi & Lola

Arielle-HumblePieVintage said...

Id like to go, but I'd be afraid to walk around barefoot. It'd be my luck that I'd step on a piece that was still a little sharp or something. Cool story none-the-less!

Kivimäen Jenni said...

I had never heard of this beach before! Weird combination of terrific environmental crime and pollution and beauty of nature. I'm glad they relized what they were doing after all. Good that the glass remains to remind everyone of the mistakes they made. We propably will never thoroughly know the consequences having a dump on that site did for the ocean.

Unknown said...

Wow if ever there was a reason to go up to No Cal for a little visit, it's this beach! I have such a thing for beach glass, I have to see this in person! HOpe you have a wonderful weekend!

xo Mary Jo

Karolina B-H said...

This is amazing!! and I never heard of it before, now I need to go there one day!!

xxo

Meri said...

what an interesting place- I've never heard of this! I love sea glass but hate to think of the pollution!

ravenlocks said...

I just googled the directions from my place to Glass beach and I'm surprised at how far away it is. It's a little less than 3 hours away. I thought it was much closer than that...silly me. It's still doable though. I really think I'll go here soon. It looks beautiful!

It kind of looks like millions of jelly bellies were thrown on the beach. I wish... ;)

xoxo

Azu

jelly andrews said...

OMG! It’s awesome. So beautiful! I am really fascinated with sea glass. This is such a great post.

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