Lone Cypress
Interesting facts
- The earliest known paintings and photographs of the tree, from the 1880s, show a full dome-shaped crown quite unlike today's wind-carved silhouette.
- Pebble Beach Company has maintained that its 1919 trademark protects not only the drawing of the tree but the tree itself.
- The storm that tore off a large limb on 16 February 2019 was a Pineapple Express, a moisture-laden atmospheric river from near Hawaii.
- Monterey cypress is a glacial relict listed as Vulnerable; fossils from Drakes Bay and Rancho La Brea show it once grew far beyond its tiny present range.
- German botanist Karl Hartweg named the species in July 1846, collecting near Monterey because the Mexican–American War made longer excursions unsafe.
- Popular claims that Monterey cypresses live 1,000 to 2,000 years were dismissed by botanist Willis Linn Jepson as unsupported by any real evidence.
- Planted abroad, the species has naturalised in New Zealand, where it grows in conditions more favourable than in its California homeland.
- Crushed sprays of Monterey cypress foliage release a strong lemony scent.
Why it is worth it
On a granite outcrop above the surf at Pebble Beach, a single Monterey cypress leans out over the Pacific with nothing around it but rock, spray and sky. The Lone Cypress is among the most photographed trees in the United States, and its appeal is purely one of composition: a dark, windswept crown balanced on a bare knuckle of stone, framed by the blue of Carmel Bay and the white water breaking below.
Monterey cypress is a rare tree in the wild: its natural range today is just two small relict groves near Carmel, one at Point Lobos and the other at Cypress Point, a short way along this same shore. It is the constant sea wind that gives old specimens their flattened, sculptural shape. The exact age of this one is unknown; it is thought to have taken root around the middle of the eighteenth century. That would make it unusually old for its species, whose longest documented life is under three centuries, which is part of why the tree has been nursed so carefully.
Its history is one of steady human support. A stone retaining wall was built around its base in 1941, and from 1948 steel cables were added to help hold the crown against the wind. In 1969 the outcrop was fenced off so that visitors' feet would not damage the shallow roots. In 1984 someone tried to set the tree on fire; it survived with only light scarring. In February 2019 a severe winter storm tore off one of its limbs, and the tree still stands. Its outline has been the registered trademark of the Pebble Beach Company since 1919, which is why the image is so often seen on logos and golf merchandise.
Look for the way the trunk grips the rock and the cables and wall that quietly keep it there: the scene is both wild and carefully tended.
Getting there
The Lone Cypress is on the 17-Mile Drive, the private scenic road through Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula, between the Cypress Point Club and the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Pacific Grove is about 7 km away, and Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) is roughly 11 km. There is a viewing pull-out at the tree.
Plan your visit
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Nearby places
- Bixby Creek Bridge 22.6 km · bridge
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Lone Cypress is a Monterey cypress tree located in Pebble Beach, California. Standing atop a granite headland overlooking Carmel Bay, the tree has become a Western icon and has been called one of the most photographed trees in North America.
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