Stage Road, San Gregorio, CA, 12/28/2005
This serene pastoral landscape evokes within me the imagery and sentiment of the famous hymn by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917) "For the Beauty of the Earth". In part, the original 1864 text reads: "For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies…. For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light". Pierpoint was 29 years old when he wrote this hymn and he was mesmerized by the beauty of the southwest English countryside that surrounded him. Perhaps it resembled this coastal California scene. I discovered this view looking southeast one afternoon in early winter while traveling on Stage Road north of the town of San Gregorio. The hill overlooks Palmer Gulch and is about 2/3 mile from the Pacific Ocean behind us. In the distance is Deer Park Ridge, which rises between San Gregorio Creek to the north (left) and Pomponio Creek to the south (right). Pesca Peak is left of center. This coastal region of California was once Rancho San Gregorio, a 17,783 acre Mexican land grant.
