Name: Stearns Wharf
Start: 2025-10-30T14:00:00-07:00
Location: Santa Barbara California

Three coastal piers – or to be precise, two wharfs and one pier – are on our tour schedule this season. The word “wharf” suggests a working structure where the sea provides livelihood and a link to the greater world. That pretty much describes Stearns Wharf, the oldest working wood wharf in California, built in 1872 by entrepreneur John Peck Stearns, who operated a lumberyard at the foot of State Street, the Santa Barbara thoroughfare that continues to serve as a vibrant hub of the Santa Barbara community. Until the 1870s, Santa Barbara was virtually cut off from the outside world by its natural barriers of ocean and mountains. Stearns’ wharf facilitated the transfer of cargo and people from ships to shore and helped open up coastal California to the wider world. And the world looks very wide indeed from this vantage point.