Photograph of Joseph W. Post House — Photograph by McGhiever, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Post, Joseph W., House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1948.

From the record

“Post House is historic house located on the Highway 1 in Posts Summit, approximately four miles to the south of Big Sur, California. Erected in 1867, the homestead evolved through five generations of the Post family settling the Big Sur coast in California.”
Wikipedia article Joseph W. Post House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 64 National Register listings published here for Monterey County · listed in 1985 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. CA 1, Big Sur, 93920
When was it listed? September 1985
Category. building
Census division. Big Sur
National Register reference number. 85002196 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1948 to 1995

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 47 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Post, Joseph W., House, surveyed 1995

Topographic sheet covering Post, Joseph W., House, surveyed 1948

Fires near this property

98 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 98 fires within 5 miles of Post, Joseph W., House between 1992 and 2020, burning about 5,001 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 3 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.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	28
Equipment and vehicle use	16
Recreation and ceremony	16
Power generation/transmission/distribution	15
Debris and open burning	8
Other causes	4
Natural	4
Arson/incendiarism	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	2
Firearms and explosives use	1
Smoking	1

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

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
8 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	Los Padres National Forest	TORRE
8 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	Los Padres National Forest	TOP
8 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	Los Padres National Forest	FREED
8 September 1996	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Los Padres National Forest	FLORY
6 September 2013	Power generation/transmission/distribution	1.0 acres	Los Padres National Forest	LIBRARY
6 September 2006	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Los Padres National Forest	COOPER
6 September 1997	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Los Padres National Forest	GRIMES
5 September 1997	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Los Padres National Forest	BARLOW

Every fire recorded in Monterey County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Post, Joseph W., House: 1 prospect, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	Molera Ranch	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Prospect	Sedimentary
	Reported Location	Silver	Producer

Every working recorded in Monterey County

Storms near this property

7 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Sur, the town this property stands in, 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
October 1996	Wildfire	Big Sur	$12,300,000	no account filed
April 2009	Flash Flood	Big Sur	$40,000	Heavy rain fell on top of a recently burned forest causing flash flooding and debris flows. More than three feet of mud covered State Route One closing it for several hours. Vehicles parked at the Big Sur Lodge were stuck in mud and debris. One vehicle was even forced into a culvert and buried. At least three separate debris flows were reported along Highway One, all within a 3 mile span.
December 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Big Sur	-	The PG&E station on Old Coast Tower reported a gust of 62 mph.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Big Sur	-	Mesonet station on Old Coast Tower road.
January 2016	Debris Flow	Big Sur	-	Heavy rain on saturated soil triggered a rock slide/debris flow onto SR 1 near Captain Cooper Elementary School in Big Sur. Highway 1 was at least partially blocked.
July 2000	Wildfire	Big Sur	-	no account filed
November 1996	Heavy Rain	Big Sur	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Monterey County

Maps showing this location

9 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1948 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1955 USGS Santa Cruz quadrangle1:250000
1956 USGS Pfeiffer Point quadrangle1:24000 - 5 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 Pfeiffer Point quadrangle1:24000

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Deetjen's Big Sur Inn	1.1 miles	1990

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 85002196 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Monterey County	All 64 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.