Half Moon Bay State Beach is a stretch of protected

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

es in the state park system of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, on

Half Moon Bay Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 as of the 2020 census. Immediately at the north of Half Moon Bay is Pillar Point Harbor and the un ...

. From north to south it comprises Roosevelt, Dunes, Venice, and Francis Beaches. The park was established in 1956.

Recreation

The broad, sandy beaches are used for sunbathing, fishing and picnicking. A campground provides accommodations for those who wish to visit longer. This

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

beach, located immediately south of Pillar Point Harbor and the town of Princeton-by-the-Sea, is often used by surfers, who utilize its unusual waves that are influenced by reflective action from the harbor

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying some ...

. At the north end of the bay there is a county park in the lee of Pillar Point Harbor with a well-maintained trail that allows hikers and bikers access to the ocean below the point. Some of the tallest surf in California occurs offshore of Pillar Point following big storms. The area is well known as Mavericks and is famous for the annual Mavericks Surf Contest. Francis Beach has a campground with 52 individual sites; some sites are more suitable for tent camping, others for trailers or

recreational vehicles A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...

. RV hookups are not available, but there is a dump station.

History

Beachgoers at Francis Beach in California

The Native American

Ohlone people The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the ...

lived along the

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

coast for many thousands of years, in small and scattered villages because of the limited availability of food. The native way of life rapidly changed during the late 18th century when the first Europeans arrived. The first European land exploration of Alta California, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Portolà expedition, passed through the area on its way north, camping on October 28–29, 1769, near the shore either at Frenchman Creek or Pilarcitos Creek, both of which reach the bay along this beach.

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missionary

Juan Crespi ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

described nearby Pillar Point in his diary: "In this place there are many geese, and for this reason the soldiers named it the plain of 'Los Ansares'. From the camp the...point lies to the north-northwest, and the high rocks look like two thick Farallones ocky islandsof an irregular and pointed shape." With the founding of

Mission San Francisco de Asís Mission San Francisco de Asís ( es, Misión San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Mission Dolores (as it was founded near the Dolores creek), is a Spanish Californian mission and the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Located i ...

(commonly known as "Mission Dolores") in 1776, the San Mateo coastal area came into use for the grazing of mission livestock. Following secularization of the missions in 1834, most mission lands were subdivided into large grants called ''ranchos''. Cattle ranching was the primary agricultural activity, and the hide and tallow trade was the main economic activity. South of Pilarcitos Creek, the beach was part of

Rancho Miramontes Rancho Miramontes (also called Arroyo de los Pilarcitos, Miramontes Rancho de San Benito, and Rancho San Benito) was a Mexican land grant in present-day San Mateo County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Juan Jose Candel ...

, granted in 1841. To the north of Pilarcitos Creek was Rancho Corral de Tierra (Vasquez), granted in 1839. The first Americans arrived in this area in the 1850s. The Mexican settlement known as Spanishtown, a commercial center for the rancheros, was called "Halfmoon" by these

Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to peopl ...

s; the bay itself was named "Halfmoon" due to its shape. In 1867 the local post office was identified as "Halfmoon Bay", and the spelling was changed to Half Moon Bay in 1905. Agriculture had developed in Half Moon Bay by the turn of the 20th century, with crops such as

brussels sprout The Brussels sprout is a member of the Gemmifera cultivar group of cabbages (''Brassica oleracea''), grown for its edible buds. The leaf vegetables are typically 1.5–4.0 cm (0.6–1.6 in) in diameter and resemble miniature cabbages ...

artichoke The globe artichoke ('' Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green artich ...

s, and

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

s along with dairy products. The Ocean Shore Railroad was incorporated in 1905 and was running along the coast from Half Moon Bay to San Francisco by the end of 1908. During the 1920s, the gentle beaches of Half Moon Bay were ideally suited to the needs of the bootlegger. Rum ships cruised offshore, unloading millions of dollars worth of illegal booze across Half Moon Bay, where Francis Beach was a perfect spot for unloading the cargo. During World War II, an Army post was set up at the beach to protect from Japanese invasion and bombing raids; further north, bunkers and long-range cannons were built to support the coastline.

Wildlife

Half Moon Bay State Beach is well known for its rare

western snowy plover The western snowy plover (''Charadrius nivosus nivosus'') is a small wader in the plover bird family. It breeds in the southern and western United States and the Caribbean. On March 5, 1993, the western snowy plover was listed as a threatened s ...

colony. A variety of fish species have been identified in the marine environment, the most abundant fish including flatfish, the commercially important English sole,

rockfish Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks. The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food. This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and ca ...

, surfperch,

Pacific herring The Pacific herring (''Clupea pallasii'') is a species of the herring family associated with the Pacific Ocean environment of North America and northeast Asia. It is a silvery fish with unspined fins and a deeply forked caudal fin. The distribut ...

lingcod The lingcod or ling cod (''Ophiodon elongatus''), also known as the buffalo cod or cultus cod, is a fish of the greenling family Hexagrammidae. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Ophiodon. ''A slightly larger, extinct species, '' Ophi ...

, herring; and abundant winter species, including starry flounder and top-

smelts Smelts are a family of small fish, the Osmeridae, found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, as well as rivers, streams and lakes in Europe, North America and Northeast Asia. They are also known as freshwater smelts or typical smelts ...

.''Environmental Impact Report for the Pillar Point East Harbor Master Plan'', Earth Metrics Inc., prepared for the San Mateo County Harbor District, February 1989 Marine mammals *

California sea lion The California sea lion (''Zalophus californianus'') is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lions. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of C ...

* Steller sea lion *

Harbor seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared se ...

Northern fur seal The northern fur seal (''Callorhinus ursinus'') is an eared seal found along the north Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk. It is the largest member of the fur seal subfamily (Arctocephalinae) and the only living species in t ...

Elephant seal Elephant seals are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus ''Mirounga''. Both species, the northern elephant seal (''M. angustirostris'') and the southern elephant seal (''M. leonina''), were hunted to the brink of extinction for oi ...

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

* Gray whale *

Humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...

Blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

Land mammals *

Raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

California vole The California vole (''Microtus californicus'') is a type of vole which lives throughout much of California and part of southwestern Oregon. It is also known as the "California meadow mouse", a misnomer as this species is a vole, not a mouse. It a ...

European rabbit The European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain, Portugal, and southwestern France), western France, and the northern Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa. It has b ...

* Skunk * Opossum *

Long-tailed weasel The long-tailed weasel (''Neogale frenata''), also known as the bridled weasel, masked ermine, or big stoat, is a species of mustelid distributed from southern Canada throughout all the United States and Mexico, southward through all of Central A ...

Gray fox The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener, the diminutive island fox (''Urocyon littor ...

* Coyote *

Mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whi ...

Mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...

Birds *

Hen harrier The hen harrier (''Circus cyaneus'') is a bird of prey. It breeds in Eurasia. The term "hen harrier" refers to its former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. It migrates to more southerly areas in winter. Eurasian birds move to southern Eur ...

* Great blue heron *

Kestrel The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviou ...

White-tailed kite The white-tailed kite (''Elanus leucurus'') is a small raptor found in western North America and parts of South America. It replaces the related Old World black-winged kite in its native range. Taxonomy The white-tailed kite was described in ...

Red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members wit ...

Killdeer The killdeer (''Charadrius vociferus'') is a large plover found in the Americas. It was described and given its current scientific name in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Three subspecies are described. Th ...

Sandpiper Sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil ...

Sanderling The sanderling (''Calidris alba'') is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English ''sand-yrðling'', "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-colou ...

Willet The willet (''Tringa semipalmata'') is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper, and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus ''Tringa''. Its closest relative is the lesser yel ...

Turnstone Turnstones are two bird species that comprise the genus ''Arenaria'' in the family Scolopacidae. They are closely related to calidrid sandpipers and might be considered members of the tribe Calidriini. The genus ''Arenaria'' was introduced by ...

Curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been in ...

* Pelican *

Sooty shearwater The sooty shearwater (''Ardenna grisea'') is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. In New Zealand, it is also known by its Māori name , and as muttonbird, like its relatives the wedge-tailed shearwater (''A. pacificus ...

Gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century ...

Barn swallow The barn swallow (''Hirundo rustica'') is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. In fact, it appears to have the largest natural distribution of any of the world's passerines, ranging over 251 million square kilometres globally. ...

Western snowy plover The western snowy plover (''Charadrius nivosus nivosus'') is a small wader in the plover bird family. It breeds in the southern and western United States and the Caribbean. On March 5, 1993, the western snowy plover was listed as a threatened s ...

Plant life

* Beach primrose * Beach aster * Blue blossom * Brass buttons * Cheese weed *

Chickweed ''Stellaria media'', chickweed, is an annual and perennial flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae.Fernald, M. L. 1950. “Gray's Manual of Botany”. Eight Edition. American Book Company, New York, NY. 1632 pp. It is native to Euras ...

Coyote bush ''Baccharis pilularis'', called coyote brush (or bush), chaparral broom, and bush baccharis, is a shrub in the family Asteraceae native to California, Oregon, Washington, and Baja California. There are reports of isolated populations in New Mexi ...

* Daisy * Gumplant * Coast hedge-nettle *

Poison hemlock ''Conium maculatum'', colloquially known as hemlock, poison hemlock or wild hemlock, is a highly poisonous biennial herbaceous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa. A hardy plant capable of living in ...

Douglas iris ''Iris douglasiana'', the Douglas iris, is a common wildflower of the coastal regions of Northern and Central California and southern Oregon in the United States. It grows mainly at lower elevations, below , though it is occasionally found at hei ...

* Miner's lettuce * Live-forever * Lizard tail * Coast lotus * Coastal bush lupin * Varicolored lupine * Mallow *

Wild mustard Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leav ...

* Yellow oxalis * Indian paintbrush * Beach pea *

California poppy ''Eschscholzia californica'', the California poppy, golden poppy, California sunlight or cup of gold, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico. It is cultivated as an ornamental pla ...

Wild radish ''Raphanus raphanistrum'', also known as wild radish, white charlock or jointed charlock, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. One of its subspecies, ''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'', includes a diverse variety of cultiv ...

* Sagewort * Sea fig * Yellow sand verbena * Sea-rocket * Spilt-milk thistle * Lotus trefoil *

Vetch ''Vicia'' is a genus of over 240 species of flowering plants that are part of the legume family (Fabaceae), and which are commonly known as vetches. Member species are native to Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. Some other ...

Wallflower ''Erysimum'', or wallflower, is a genus of flowering plants in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. It includes more than 150 species, both popular garden plants and many wild forms. The genus ''Cheiranthus'' is sometimes included here in whole o ...

Watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf v ...

Photo gallery

File:Beach Erosion Scene near Half-Moon-Bay California.jpg, A stretch of rock eroded by wind, water, and sand File:Half Moon Bay State Beach (Francis) P2 2007-Aug.jpg, View south on Francis Beach File:Cliffs half moon bay.JPG, Cliffs of Half Moon Bay File:Half Moon Bay bluff panorama.jpg, Panorama view from blufftop

References

External links

Half Moon Bay State Beach
{{Protected areas of California, SP 1956 establishments in California California State Beaches Campgrounds in California Beaches of San Mateo County, California Parks in San Mateo County, California Protected areas established in 1956 San Francisco Bay Area beaches Beaches of Northern California