"Victorian architecture and Butterflies " a Pacific Grove Travel Page by grandmaR

Pacific Grove is known for its butterflies and for the fact that the town had its beginning in 1875 as a summer Methodist camp, where several hundred people assembled to worship amidst rough tents a la Chautauqua.

Its motto is "America's Last Home Town:" and it is also called "Butterfly Town USA"

Abbreviated Time Line:
1542 Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo discovers Monterey Bay and lands at what is now called Cabrillo Point in Pacific Grove.

1602 Don Sebastian Vizcaino, a Spanish merchant, is believed to be the first white man to set foot upon Point Pinos. He named it Point of the Pines.

1855 Point Pinos Lighthouse, illuminated by a whale oil lamp, starts operating on February 1. Illuminated by kerosene in 1880 and electricity in 1919, it is now the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the West Coast.

1874 First permanent house built in what is now Pacific Grove.

Bishop J.T. Peck meets with Rev. W.S. Ross in the pines of what is now Pacific Grove to inspect the location as a possible site for a Christian seaside resort.

1875 The Pacific Grove Retreat Association acquires 100 acres of land to be used as the Retreat area, for the nominal sum of $1.00 -- essentially a gift.

St. John Cox, Esq. surveys the Retreat area, laying out the lots, and files his map. The first of the annual camp meetings (not Chautauqua) held.

Monarch butterflies first noticed stopping in Pacific Grove.

1879 June 30: First Pacific Grove Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle meeting held.

October: Robert Louis Stevenson takes a walk through Pacific Grove and writes about it in The Old Capital.

1880 First "Feast of Lanterns" held to mark the close of Chautauqua every year.

Eucalyptus trees on the north side of Lighthouse Avenue were started from seed brought from Australia by Bishop Taylor of the Methodist diocese. Some still remain in front of the post office.

Early 1900s Another literary figure from the area, John Steinbeck spent many weekends and holidays in the early 1900s in Pacific Grove as a child, and he lived there in the 30s.

Ice plant on the shore in Pacific Grove. Note - ice plant is not a place where you buy ice, but is the popular name for Mesembryanthemuin, a hardy low-growing spreading succulant herbaceous plant covered with large glittering papillae which give it the appearance of being coated with ice. It is a drycountry plant,.which is planted along highways in California because it can survive with little rain, has long strong roots to stablize the soil, and has nice flowers. it was first brought to California in the early 1900s and planted to stabilize soil along railroad tracks. Iceplant was later used by Caltrans for similar purposes, and until the 1970s, thousands of acres were planted with iceplant.