83.94 Acres

OSAC Category IIA:
Protected Natural Resources

SFB Morse Botanical Reserve (2 parcels)

The SFB Morse Botanical Reserve is located within the Gowen Cypress Planning Area in two parcels to the south and east of Congress Road. The SFB Morse Botanical Reserve was established in 1972 to protect the endangered Gowen Cypress, as well as other species or associations of species found only on the acidic clay-pan soils found in this area.  Subsequently, other rare and endangered species have been identified in the reserve. The 84 acres of the SFB Morse Botanical Reserve are now adjoined by the 372 acres of the Huckleberry Hill Natural Reserve, which contains similarly valuable botanic resources.  DMFF holds a conservation easement on the Huckleberry Hill Natural Reserve as mandated under the Del Monte Forest Area Land Use Plan of Monterey County's Local Coastal Program and approved by the Coastal Commission.  Both Reserves are shown together on the forest-wide map of DMFF's properties and easements that appears at the top of this page.

In 1976 the Del Monte Properties Company (now the Pebble Beach Corporation) deeded the 83.94 acres of the S.F.B. Morse Reserve to DMFF. The Reserve is named for Samuel Finley Brown Morse, grandnephew of the inventor of the telegraph.  Morse came to the Del Monte Forest in 1908.  In 1915 until the day he died at age 83 in 1969, Morse was intent on preserving the integrity of the land under his charge.  A hiking trail starts at Congress Road and traverses the length of each parcel of the Botanical Reserve and connects to trails and fire roads in Huckleberry Hill Natural Reserve.  The trail in the southern, larger parcel is called the Crawford trail and was named for founding OSAC naturalist Rudd Crawford.  

1.61 Acres

OSAC Category 1A:
Intensively Used Area

 4.8 acres

 OSAC Category IIA: Protected Natural Resources and XI: Rare or Endangered Species.

Pescadero Point

Pescadero Point is located on between Stillwater Cove and Crocker Cypress Grove.  The 1.61 acre Pescadero Point parcel was given to the Monterey Peninsula Foundation as open space in perpetuity in 1958 by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Fagan. One of the larger boulders on the rocky point carries a bronze plaque with the inscription: “Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul I. Fagan to Monterey Foundation 1958.”  This foundation transferred the property to DMFF in 1982.

This scenic and historic promontory was called Pescadero, fishing place, by the Spaniards. As testimony of the Indian middens, containing hundreds of clam and abalone shell fragments, the Ohlones enjoyed this spot long before outsiders came. A famous cypress known as the Witch Tree was a landmark here. No longer standing, its fallen trunk remains roped off in the center of the parcel.

Cortlandt Hill Preserve

The Cortlandt Hill Preserve was dedicated by the Hill family as permanent open space in 1996. The 4.8 acre parcel had been owned by the Hill family since 1923. Its dedication protects native Monterey Cypress mixed with some Monterey Pine set upon a grassy coastal bluff.  Access is reserved for ecological maintenance and scientific study only. No Public Access.

12.54 Acres

 OSAC Category IIB:
 Protected Natural Resources

1.41 Acres

OSAC Category IIB:
Protected Natural Resources

Crocker Grove

The Crocker Cypress Grove is located near Cypress Point. It is bounded on the north by Portola Road, on the east by Madre Lane and on the south and west by 17-Mile Drive. The Crocker Cypress Grove is a prime example of a native, first-growth Monterey Cypress Forest.  Monterey Cypress occurs naturally in only two extremely small populations: the northerly population that extends from Cypress Point to Pescadero Point, and the southerly population located across Carmel Bay at Point Lobos.  Crocker Grove is located in the heart of the northerly native population.

Crocker Grove was probably named for Charles Crocker, pioneer railroad builder and one of the founders of the Pacific Improvement Company. He was the leading figure in the development of Hotel Del Monte.  In 1952, the grove was set aside as a natural reserve. In 1976, the Del Monte Properties Company deeded this 12.54 acre parcel to DMFF. Although Monterey Cypress was originally restricted to this tiny native range, the species has been widely planted up and down the California coast and in landscape settings all over the world.

S.F.B. Morse Memorial

The S.F.B. Morse Memorial is located along Seventeen Mile Drive near the first fairway of the Cypress Point Golf Course. Near Crocker Grove and oart of the northern population of Monterey Cypress, the S.F.B. Morse Memorial is a natural open space containing some old and awesome cypress giants. This 1.41 acre tract was transferred from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation to DMFF in 1982, along with $14,875 pledged for maintenance of the Morse Memorial Property.  When the transfer from Monterey Peninsula Foundation to DMFF was completed, maintenance was begun in the form of an extensive tree planting program. Almost all of the younger cypress trees now there are “native stock,” grown from seed collected by Loma (Mrs. Hulet P.) Smith, whose house is on the first fairway of the Cypress Point Course.

21.04 Acres

OSAC Category IB:
Intensively Used Area

Indian Village

Indian Village is located just inland of 17-Mile Drive at Dunes Drive south of Seal Rock Creek. Indian Village now consists of a 21.04 acre parcel of primarily mature Monterey pine forest with a park-like clearing and picnic facilities as well as the well known Gingerbread House visible from 17 Mile Drive. Access is by graded dirt road from Dunes Drive. Secondary access is by graded dirt trail to near the seventh green of the Spyglass Hill Golf Course along Stevenson Road.

The 20 acres of the original Indian Village parcel were acquired when more than 300 Del Monte Forest property owners donated $120,000 to purchase 30 acres (20 acres at Indian Village and 10 acres at the Navajo Tract.)  Part of the $120,000 purchased 15 of the 30 acres and Pebble Beach Corporation generously donated the matching 15 acres. In 1980, Indian Village was transferred from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation to the DMFF. An additional acre with the Gingerbread House was added to Indian Village in 1993 as a gift to DMFF from Pebble Beach Company.  DMFF also holds a conservation easement on the two  adjacent parcels to the north that contain the channel and riparian corridor of Seal Rock Creek.

Gingerbread House

Perched high on a sand dune at the entrance to Indian Village is a Forest landmark, the storybook “Hansel and Gretel” cottage known as the Gingerbread House. DMFF added this 1.04 acre property to Indian Village in 1993, accepting it as a gift from Pebble Beach Corporation.

It was built in 1944 by Artist Pedro de Lemos as a guest house/studio for a much larger residence planned for the property. The poured concrete roof was hand formed to create the appearance of individually colored tiles. Due to the owner’s illness, the main residence was never finished, but the original foundation is still visible. The property was later sold to Pebble Beach Corporation.

The Foundation has updated the picnic facilities,
which are available to residents, friends and selected groups.

10 Acres

OSAC Category IVB:
Open Forest

15.57 Acres

 OSAC Category IVB:
 Open Forest

The Navajo parcel is located between the Country Club and Pacific Grove gates at the northern end of the Del Monte Forest. The Navajo parcel is a heavily wooded, mixed pine/oak forest. The parcel adjoins land along Congress Avenue that was sold to the City of Pacific Grove and is now named Van Winkle Park.

This parcel of 10 acres came to DMFF from the Pebble Beach Corporation in 1980 as part of an open space acquisition effort involving more than 300 Del Monte Forest property owners. One 5 acre portion was purchased from PBC with some of the donated $120,000, which also helped to acquire Indian Village. Pebble Beach Company donated the matching 5 acres.

The Navajo Tract was part of an old Spanish grant known as Punta de Pinos because of the magnificent Monterey Pines there. In 1880, David Jacks sold this ranch to the Pacific Improvement Company. The name Navajo seems to stem from the fact that at one time, it belonged to the Navajo Mining Company, a silica mining operation.

Area B (Navajo North)

Located just north of the Navajo tract and also adjacent to Pacific Grove’s Van Winkle Park, this 15.574 acre parcel was donated to DMFF in 1989 by Pebble Beach Corporation. One of two parcels called Area B in Monterey County’s Del Monte Forest Area Land Use Plan adopted by the Coastal Commission in 1984, the property is part of the roughly 46 acres of Navajo/Van Winkle Park open space.

The description and history of the Navajo tract apply equally well to this parcel. A fairly dense mixed forest of pine and oak with a diverse understory, both parcels receive a great deal of use by walkers coming through Van Winkle Park. Providing open space opportunities while limiting resource damage by controlling access is an ongoing challenge.

73.474 Acres

OSAC Category IVB:
Open Forest

OSAC Category IV, Open Forest, and VIII: Riparian and Wetland.

4.51 Acres

OSAC Category IVB:
Open Forest

Pescadero Canyon is located at the easterly end of the Del Monte Forest. The open-space parcel is bounded on the north and west by 17-Mile Drive and on the south and east by the city limit of Carmel and residences in the Carmel Woods area. Pescadero Canyon open space consists primarily of the immediate watershed and stream course of Pescadero Creek on the south side of 17-Mile Drive. The Del Monte Properties Company (now Pebble Beach Company) deeded this 73.47 acre propery to DMFF in 1976.

Pescadero Canyon opens into Carmel Bay and was named for Rancho Pescadero, the David Jacks holding purchased by the Pacific Improvement Company in the late 1800’s. The Tucutnut Ohlone were said to be in this area. Part of the Pescadero Canyon holding is a lovely open meadow that slopes down to the east side of the 17 Mile Drive as the Drive runs north toward the Highway One gate. A bronze plaque on a granite boulder toward the brow of the hill reads: Robert F. Ford Meadow of Pescadero Canyon. These several acres were a gift to the Foundation by Mary Taylor Ford in memory of her husband. This dedication was made in 1981.

Carmel Way

The Carmel Way parcel is located at the eastern edge of Carmel Way immediately below the Pescadero Canyon parcels and just north of the Carmel Gate along Pescadero Creek. The Carmel Way parcel was purchased by the Del Monte Forest Foundation in 1996. Its dominant native cover is Monterey pine mixed with some coast live oak. Redwood trees planted many years ago along the bottom of Pescadero Creek now dominate much of the creekside on this parcel. 

According to Jack Wheatley, adjoining resident immediately south of the parcel, the Carmel Way parcel and his property (located between Pescadero Creek and Second Avenue in Carmel) were once in the same ownership. Sometime from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, the landowner constructed a set of trails from his residence down to and across Pescadero Creek.

Hermann Property

The Hermann Property is located along Seventeen Mile Drive at the Crespi intersection between the Carmel Gate and the Pebble Beach Golf Links. The parcel is dissected by two seasonal watercourses and supports a mixed forest of pine and oak. Known as the land that saved the Foundation, this parcel was purchased from Mrs. Grover Hermann in 1986. Click here for the rest of the story