Bill Post is one of the most respected "old timers" in Big Sur. Born and raised on his grandparents' ranch, his family owned most of the hill above and the south of the marathon start line, including the beautiful Ventana resort. The old Post Ranch house can be seen at the entrance to Ventana.

If you can recall times in the early 20's you may be able to appreciate more of what life was like along the coast and even around the Peninsula. I was born in 1920, which seems a long time ago to me but was fairly recent when you recall that people were beginning to settle the coast around 1850. You must realize there was no Highway One when my great grandfather William Brainard Post came to Big Sur in the 1860's. The old wagon road ended around or just south of Mal Paso, (mile 22) - "Bad Pass" so named, I was told, because wagons could not ford the mouth of the stream during high tide or rough weather. At one time, W.B. Post was appointed by the county as a kind of road commissioner and responsible for building some of the "old road" with help from the settlers, and I believe some chinese labor. When I was a kid the road ended in the corrals by the barn just west from our old homestead, now the entrance to Ventana (2 miles south of start). Our barn and corrals were removed for the right of way of the existing highway. Anything south of Castros had to be packed by horse and mule or landed by boat at Partington and Lime Kiln. There were landings north of Big Sur also used for supplies before the old road was complete. The mouth of the Big Sur River (mile 5), Bixby landing (mile 13), Notleys landing (mile 15), and Point Sur were used for supplies in construction of the lighthouse.

Our main source of transportation was the horse and mule - buggies and wagons. We had a car, but a trip to town took about 3 hours by automobile and 3 days to drive a herd of cattle. I remember I used to get car sick and never went to town unless I had to. My sister, Mary and I, so I've been told, as babies, were transported in pack bags on either side of a horse or mule and taken into the back country when my father was after cattle and down the coast to round-ups and barbecues.

My first recollections of growing up in Big Sur would probably be: few kids our age to play with (about 2 miles between ranches), outside plumbing, kerosene lamps for light, and a lot of chores - gather wood, milk cows, feed chickens and turkeys, tend to gardens, care for horses and, come to think of it, I guess we didn't have a lot of time to play.

I remember my grandfather, Joseph William Post (Joe), very well and a lot of the things he tried to teach me.

I remember dances at Oldhams Hall, (Sycamore Canyon) (1 mile south of start), and Notleys landing at Palo Colorado. We didn't dance, but when the music would stop, all of us kids would run and slide all over the floor. We used to watch some of the highway construction and visit the convict camps at Anderson Canyon and Little Sur.

When I became old enough to start school, there were not enough kids in Big Sur to open the school, so I lived with my cousin's family for a year on the Cooper ranch (Sur ranch) and started first grade at the Sur School, now long gone. The following year Mary started school. Our mother took in two boarders, and there were a couple more form Pfeiffer - so with six kids, the county opened the Pfeiffer school - also long gone. Mary caught up to me in grade school - not that she was smarter - so we could continue high school together. There were four of us who graduated from the eighth grade, so you see Big Sur was beginning to grow. On completion of "grammar school" we learned that Big Sur was in the King City high school district, and because of our mother's efforts she was able to get Big Sur changed to the Monterey district.

The building and opening of Highway One made some big changes that come with growth. In a way I am thankful for growing up on the coast the "way it was". Looking back now I wonder how long it would take to run the Big SUr Marathon over the old road as we know it.

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