Glass Beach (Fort Bragg, California)

Glass Beach is a beach in MacKerricher State Park

MacKerricher State Park

MacKerricher State Park in Northern California offers a variety of habitats: beach, bluff, headland, dune, forest, and wetland. Tide pools are along the shore. Seals live on the rocks off the park’s Mendocino coast. More than 90 species of birds visit or live near Cleone Lake, a former tidal lagoon...

near Fort Bragg, California

Fort Bragg, California

Fort Bragg is a city located in coastal Mendocino County, California along State Route 1, the major north-south highway along the Pacific Coast. Fort Bragg is located west of Willits, at an elevation of 85 feet...

that is abundant in sea glass

Sea glass

Sea glass is glass found on beaches along oceans, bays, rivers, gullies or large lakes that has been tumbled and smoothed by the waves, water and sand, creating smooth, frosted shards of glass....

created from years of dumping garbage

Waste

Waste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...

into an area of coastline near the northern part of the town.

History

In the early 20th century, Fort Bragg residents threw their household garbage over the cliffs above what is now Glass Beach. They discarded glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

, appliances, and even cars. The land was owned at that time by the Union Lumber Company, and locals referred to it as "The Dumps." Sometimes fires were lit to reduce the size of the trash pile.

In 1967, the North Coast Water Quality Board and city leaders closed the area. Various cleanup programs were undertaken through the years to correct the damage.

Over the next several decades the pounding wave

Wave

In physics, a wave is a disturbance that travels through space and time, accompanied by the transfer of energy.Waves travel and the wave motion transfers energy from one point to another, often with no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium—that is, with little or no associated mass...

s cleansed the beach

Beach

A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...

, wearing down the discarded glass into the small, smooth, colored trinkets that cover the beach today.

In 2002, the California State Park system purchased the 38 acres (153,780.7 m²) Glass Beach property, and after cleanup it was incorporated into MacKerricher State Park

MacKerricher State Park

Tourism

The beach is now frequently visited by tourists. Though not officially permitted, many still scour the beach for interesting curios to take home as souvenirs. The glass is no longer allowed to be taken from the beach. When the beach was cleaned up people were quickly attracted to the beautiful glass so they took it. Before the beach could be destroyed the California Parks & Recreation Dept. took over the beach.

The path from the road down to the beach is regarded as treacherous, because unprepared visitors not wearing shoes with sufficient traction occasionally injure themselves.

External links

http://www.fortbragg.com/fort-bragg-attractions.php

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History

Tourism

See also

External links