Carmel-by-the-Sea - Friends of the Forest Tree Tour, Carmel, California

"In the beginning, there was the forest on the seaward-tilting slope of the land. The thick straight trunks of the mighty Monterey Pines held billowy green canopies high against the sky." (1)

To this day all who make the journey from Monterey over the hill to Carmel witness this majestic forest stand of Monterey Pines.

In 1888, Monterey native brothers Santiago and Belisario Duckworth acquired the rights to develop 324 acres of the Las Manzanitas Rancho from Honore Escolle. The brothers filed the first official map of what was then called Carmel City with the Monterey County Recorder's office in Salinas the same year. Carmel City was laid out in a grid pattern with one hundred thirteen blocks which would contain both the residential and business district of town.

"In 1901, Santiago Duckworth came to Frank Devendorf ... he wanted to exchange all of his unsold Carmel City lots for whatever Devendorf had to offer in return. Devendorf proposed to trade him some land in Stockton for the Carmel lots and the two men agreed." (2) Devendorf would go on to plant Monterey Pine trees down the center of what could come to be called Ocean Avenue. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).