Post Ranch Inn began with a handshake in 1984, but the history of the ranch goes back to 1848, when 18 year old William Brainard Post stepped off a ship in Monterey.
A spirited explorer and entrepreneur, W.B. Post spent his early years on the California coast where he hunted grizzly bear and deer. Later he became a businessman, starting the first grain warehouse in Moss Landing and the first butcher shop in Castroville. In 1850 William Brainard Post married Anselma Onesimo, of Costanoan descent, with whom he had five children. When he took out a claim on 160 acres of land in Big Sur, he became one of the region’s first homesteaders. With the help of his sons, he built a cabin. The red New England-style house, a registered historical landmark, still stands on Highway 1 across from the entrance to Post Ranch Inn.
The Post family raised cattle and hogs, and exported apples from a thriving orchard. W.B. and Anselma’s youngest son, Joe, married a neighbor, Elizabeth Gilkey. Joe eventually bought up claims from both of their families, accumulating nearly 1,500 acres, including the area of Post Ranch Inn. Together the adventurous couple ran the ranch and took hunters and fishermen on pack trips into the wilderness around Big Sur. Their son Bill continued the family tradition of leading trips and working as a cowboy and rancher. While employed as the mail carrier from Monterey to Big Sur, Bill gave a ride to Irene Fredricks, a city girl whose romance with Bill turned her summer visit to Big Sur into a lifelong stay. The couple opened Rancho Sierra Mar, a small resort and café near the Post Family home, which they ran with their two children, Billy and Mary.
Born in 1920, Bill Post lived in Big Sur most of his life, and there were many chores on the self-sufficient homestead. After serving in the Marine Corps in World War II, Bill came home to run the ranch. He was raising two daughters on his own when he met and married Luci, the love of his life. Over the years, it grew difficult to hold on to the old style of ranching. In the early 1980s, a close friend and neighbor approached Bill and Luci with the idea of turning the land into an inn that would preserve the integrity and history of the Post family’s property. After shaking hands on the deal, they sealed the Post partnership with a shot of Jack Daniel’s, which has since become the Inn’s unofficial drink. When an agreement was signed years later, the partnership bought Bill a tractor which he used to do nearly all the excavation and grading to build the Inn. The Inn has been a Post family project in more ways than one. It was Luci’s idea to honor the early history of Big Sur by using the ranch’s cattle brand as the Inn’s logo, and she put together the library. Bill named each guest room in honor of the Post family and Big Sur pioneers.
Bill’s sister, the late Mary Post Fleenor, ran the Rancho Sierra Mar Café until it closed in 1972. On its opening night in 1992, the Sierra Mar Restaurant was dedicated to Mary’s memory. Bill Post, a loyal steward of this land for almost 90 years, was an exceptional and irreplaceable host for thousands of inn guests for seventeen years. We have the privilege of enjoying this soulful and historical property because of his generosity and foresight to make it available to guests. Bill’s gentle and genial hospitality remains an inspiration to all of us at Post Ranch Inn. www.jwpost.com
Architecture & Design
There are many designers, artists and crafts people who have contributed
so much to the creation of Post Ranch Inn.
We celebrate our Architects and Interior Designer:
Mickey Muennig, Original Architect & Visionary
A native of Joplin, Missouri, G.K. (Mickey) Muennig studied with
Bruce Goff at the University of Oklahoma, where he was drawn to
the principles of "organic architecture." Following apprenticeships
with various architects, most of whom had been students of Goff
or Frank Lloyd Wright, he established architectural practices in
Joplin and Denver, Colorado. A trip to Big Sur in 1971 inspired
him to stay, and he has been a practicing architect here ever since.
Muennig has consulted with the Human Dimensions Foundation, working
with solar energy, water recycling, and "bio-structure" development.
Passive solar heating is employed in most of his structures, and
he is committed to design that respects the natural environment.
Muennig´s work has been shown in museums in this country and in
Europe and has been featured in numerous international publications.
Vladimir Frank, Expansion Rooms Architect
Vladimir Frank, a native of the Czech Republic, studied at the University of Applied Arts in Prague and the Royal College of Arts in London. He practiced architecture in Prague, London and Athens before coming to America over 20 years ago. Dedication to design quality, environmental responsibility and sustainable architecture are the guiding principles of Vladimir’s work. Environmentally friendly, his architecture strives to enhance the experience of connecting the inside and outside.
Janet Gay Freed, Interior Designer
"...defining design is like explaining what love is - bold, gentle,
wondrous, simple, less is more, color, texture, light."
Born in Illinois, polished in California, Janet attended Parkland College and Western Design Institute. She does both residential and commercial design in the San Francisco Bay Area, Big Sur, Fiji and Bhutan. Our sister property Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort was created with the same innovative vision and spirit as Post Ranch Inn. Her work has been featured in Travel + Leisure, Metropolitan Home, Vogue, California Home, To the Trade, Fine Woodworking and Islands magazine.
