Glass Beach California

Glass Beach is the man made beautiful beach in Northern California, USA. In MacKerricher State Park, near the city of Fort Bragg in northern California, you will find a beach littered with glass. Over decades of crashing waves the glass has been smoothed and rounded, transforming the shoreline into a colorful palette of pebble-like glass and sand which is known as Glass Beach. 

In the early 20th century, Fort Bragg residents threw their household garbage over cliffs owned by the Union Lumber Company onto what is now Glass Beach, discarding glass, appliances, and even vehicles. Locals referred to it as "The Dumps. Fires were lit to reduce the size of the trash pile.

As word of this unique beach spread, more and more visitors descended onto Glass Beach. Drawn to

the beautifully smoothed and rounded glass, visitors began pocketing the glass with each visit. This has greatly diminished the amount of glass on the beach. Over the next several decades, the pounding waves cleaned the beach by breaking down everything but glass turning the sand into a sparkling, multicolored bed of smooth glass stones. The California Department of Parks and Recreation purchased the land and incorporated it into MacK¬er¬richer State Park in 2002.

The beach is now frequently visited by tourists. Collecting is not permitted on the park's beach, although sea glass can be found on other local beaches outside the park boundary. A Glass Festival is

held annually on Memorial Day weekend. Thousands of tourists visit there each day in the summer. Most collect some glass. Because of this and also because of natural factors (wave action is constantly grinding down the glass), the glass is slowly diminishing. There is currently a move to replenish the beaches with discarded glass. Similar beaches are found at Benicia, California and Hanapepe, Hawaii.

 

How to Get to Glass Beach: Glass Beach is in Fort Bragg. Turn west on Elm Street, go to the parking lot at the end and follow the dirt path to the beach.