Big Sur, California

The same ground, surveyed 77 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

1918 1995

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

• Deetjen's Big Sur Innlisted 1990
• Point Sur Light Stationlisted 1991
• Post, Joseph W., Houselisted 1985

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

• 1918 USGS Point Sur quadrangle1:62500
• 1925 USGS Point Sur quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
• 1947 USGS Point Sur quadrangle1:62500
• 1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
• 1956 USGS Big Sur quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
• 1957 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
• 1958 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1965 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
• 1974 USGS Monterey quadrangle1:250000
• 1982 USGS Point Sur quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
• 1995 USGS Big Sur quadrangle1:24000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 99 fires within 5 miles of Big Sur between 1992 and 2020, burning about 5,006 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 5 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Posts

Every fire recorded in Monterey County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Big Sur: 1 past producer, 1 prospect, 1 occurrence, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General, Geothermal. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Monterey County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Sur in 7 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 2 wildfire, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

Every storm recorded in Monterey County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 269849. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.