Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park: Campgrounds - Big Sur CA

City:: Big Sur, CA
Site Type:: Parks and Recreation, Campgrounds and Cabins
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Started:: 1933
Completed:: 1941
Quality of Information:: Good
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: Partially Extant

Description

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on the central California coast, developing it for public recreational use. The state parks commission acquired the land in 1933, but had no funds for development. The CCC worked in the park from 1933 to 1941, but the sources do not always specify exact dates for each improvement.

The CCC enrollees built the original Main Camp and the Weyland campground, though both have probably been expanded since. Original tables with stone footings and stone camp stoves can still be found scattered through these campgrounds.

The Main Campground is probably the site of the CCC Camp Big Sur where the enrollees lived.

Source notes

Joseph H. Engbeck, Jr., By the People, For the People: The Work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in California State Parks, 1933-1941. (Sacramento: California State Parks, 2002), pp. 89-94.

Site originally submitted by Richard Walker on February 20, 2023.
Additional contributions by Joan Greer.