The Dump That Became a Tourist Site
It may not happen often, but occasionally the site of human waste becomes a place of unique beauty through the ministrations of Mother Nature. Case in point: Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, California.
Fort Bragg is located north of San Francisco in beautiful Mendocino County, a place famed for being a literal treasure chest of natural riches: redwood forests, stunning cliffs, and beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. If you’d visited the area in 1949, you would’ve found all of the above and…a dump.
Yes, a dump. Though today we know the dangers of using the ocean as a one-size-fits-all dumpster, Americans in the 1940s did not consider the environmental impact of their waste. They used the oceanfront dump to rid themselves of all manner of trash, ranging from general household garbage to used cars. Above, a tire still disintegrating on the beach.
It wasn’t until the late 1960s (1967 to be exact) that California realized how much damage was being done by unregulated dumping so near to the ocean. They forbade any further waste disposal and made plans to move the dump to another site, this one located further away from the shoreline. The original dump was allowed to stay as it was, moldering and forgotten beneath the cliffs of Fort Bragg. But Mother Nature had her own agenda.
Since much of the waste had come from homes in the area, bits of broken bottles made up a huge segment of the litter. After 30 years of being pounded by the surf and swirled around in the Pacific, these shards were transformed into smooth pebbles of multi-colored glass that sparkled in the sunshine.
As the seashore began to be covered in the colorful pebbles brought in by the tide, an entire “beach of glass” took shape.
Once California realized that tourists were seeking out the beach specifically to see the multi-hued beauty of sunlight reflecting on glass, as well as to collect the brilliantly colored pebbles, it was swiftly folded into MacKerricher State Park. Now Glass Beach is listed on the Fort Bragg website as a destination point for visitors in the area.
Glass Beach has been cleaned up since becoming part of a National Park. Rusty remnants of automobiles have been removed, leaving only those beautifully smoothed globes of glass (which you are no longer allowed to take home, by the way) as a testament to the dump that once was located here. There’s also an abundance of tide pools to explore.
Or you could just hang out. It’s still a beach, after all.
5 REVIEWS
October 5, 2012
Coincidentally they were talking on the radio about all the tons of glass they could not recycle and what to do with it because apparently it is next to impossible to clean glass so it can be recycled properly.
It is amazing what water can do, “tumbling the glass” to smooth out the edges.
karen ho fatt
bragg creek , canada
April 23, 2012
I’ve been there many times.As a matter of fact I like to call Ft.Bragg “home”. It’s a beautiful thing to see even if it’s picked over a bit. In my youth the glass & ceramics were 2ft deep, now its only surface stuff. Funny how nature takes care of itself. A little help from tourists & locals alike wasn’t a bad thing either. So happy to hear that it will now be left for our children to see.
mitch
April 6, 2012
I have visited Ft. Bragg each summer for the past 8 years and I always visit Glass Beach. I was there the summer of 2011 and I was so disappointed to see how much the beautiful glass has diminished. Maybe more signs should be posted to let people know not to take the glass. I am so glad to hear that it has been declared a National Park so maybe now it will be well preserved so that the beauty of the glass will return.
Pat
February 4, 2012
I have been to Glass Beach many times in my last 40 years, and both of my parents were raised in Fort Bragg. Of course, there was a big clean up push before the beach had gotten to the place it is now. I have never been at the beach and seen things like the spool of plastic coated wire that is in the one photo, but I’m sure things wash up there that are from current times, like most beaches. It is most definitely a beautiful beach now.
Beth
January 23, 2012
All that’s fine and good, 40 or so years ago more consumer goods were made from things that would more easily degrade over time. Not as many things made from plastics. Take another good look at the tire in the photo. It’s hardly different from the way it was years ago. Next to it lies a spool of plastic coated wire. I don’t think any one could hardly call this an environmental success.
Clearwall