Get the appSign inSign up
Trip ideas  /  3 slow days in Santa Barbara  /  Stearns Wharf
Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara, California
Historic site · Santa Barbara, California

Stearns Wharf

A pier in 1872.A storm in December 1878.A fire in 1973.Closed for six years.

Photo: Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Read aloud by your device's voice. It sounds different on each device.

1872

In 1872 it was the longest deep-water pier between Los Angeles and San Francisco

Named for its builder, lumberman John Peck Stearns, the wharf served the passenger and freight shipping needs of California's South Coast for over a quarter century. Before the wharf, passengers and cargo had to be rowed ashore through the breakers and kelp.

Storms

Storms in 1878 washed away more than 1,000 feet of the wharf

During December 1878, storms washed away more than 1,000 feet of the wharf. It was another 52 years before Santa Barbara got its breakwater. When the railroad reached the city in 1877, Stearns added a spur to his lumberyard and the Southern Pacific Depot.

1,000feet or more of the wharf lost to storms in December 1878

Fires

Fires in 1973 and 1998 struck the wharf, which reopened in 1981

A fire in 1973 closed the wharf, and it stayed closed for six years until restorations were completed in 1981. Another fire in the winter of 1998 devastated the last hundred and fifty feet, including Moby Dick Restaurant.

Day 1, midday

It comes after Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Then East Beach.

More stories from this trip idea

The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Stearns Wharf, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.

Want your own days planned like this? Plan your own trip on the web or get the Archie app.