At 98, Stanley Vernon Harlan is a trove of ways of life past, presented as tales in a new book.

“It was the winter of 1932-33 that we had made plans to go to Monterey and celebrate Christmas at my grandmother’s house on Cypress Street. The plan was quite complicated.”

Thus opens one of the 52 stories from Stanley Vernon Harlan’s, Stories from my Childhood in Big Sur. The tale continues with one part of the family walking through muddy terrain for miles to meet the others, who drove from Monterey to San Luis Obispo then progressed as far up a Highway 1 work road as they could in their car. The actual highway was completed soon after and changed much in the future of coastal cattle ranches, such as the one by Lopez Point, where Harlan grew up.

The book is a portrayal of life in Big Sur in the early 20th century and before, where every day seemed an adventure – no running water, a large wood-burning stove in the kitchen as the main source of warmth and energy, five different trails leading to favorite fishing spots, cattle, pigs, father’s horse Babe and wild strawberries.

Born in a San Jose hospital, Harlan was just a week old when his family brought him back to the ranch – first to King City by vehicle, then five miles west in a wagon horse taxi. He rested in a space popular as an overnight stay among Indigenous people and homesteaders: Indian Cave. Next morning, baby Stanley was attached to a saddle and proceeded the final 12 miles on a mule over a narrow horse trail.

Today, Harlan lives in Monterey in a house he built himself, halfway between his family ranch in Big Sur and Watsonville High School, where he ended up working as a teacher of mechanics for 32 years. He is surrounded by history: books, objects and photographs

Since retiring, he has written several books on Big Sur, with the help of his wife, Irene Marys Harlan, whom he met during 18 months with American forces in occupied Germany. The story of how his own grandfather, Wilber Judson Harlan, came to the Big Sur coast in 1885 and filed a request for a homestead under the Federal Homestead Act of 1882 is only one of them. Stanley Harlan depicts Wilber with a pick, a mattock, a shovel, a crowbar and a box of matches to clear brush, cut timber and make a camp. Only then could he build a cabin from split redwood.

“It sometimes took most of an hour to make one cut through a large log,” his grandson recalls.

Stories from my Childhood in Big Sur by Stanley Vernon Harlan is available online and in local bookstores.