There is a beach unlike any you’ve probably ever come across in Fort Bragg, Mendochino County, California and it’s made of glass, sounds painful but mother nature has tumbled man’s waste into glorious smooth coloured rocks.
Early in the 20th century, Right after the 1906 earthquake and up until 1967, the city of Fort Bragg dumped trash in three places along its beaches but the placement of the rocks and wave formations created a giant tumbling machine. The Fort Bragg locals used to dump cars, appliances and of course glass over the cliffs of their coastal town and in the 1930’s this was a very accepted norm but in 1967 Fort Bragg authorities closed up the area and mother nature went to work on pounding the old waste into beautiful stones.
In 1998, the beach was released from private ownership and then began a five year process of working with the California Coastal Conservancy and the California Integrated Waste Management Board for the clean-up.The 38-acre Glass Beach property was purchased by the California Department of Parks and Recreation and it was incorporated into MacKerricher State Park in October 2002
Many have gone there hoping to take away a piece of sea glass but it is illegal as it is a historical site and the locals want to preserve how the mighty ocean made such raw beauty of their mistakes.
‘Leave no trace’ is the motto.
Coming in an array of colours like,rare ruby reds (from pre-1967 auto tail lights) or sapphire gems from apothecary bottles, emerald, ochre and amber. It’s always remarkable to see how nature evolves from the abuse it takes via humans and creates a historic blueprint of peoples actions.
C.Reynolds
