This tunnel of cypress trees leading into the Marconi-RCA wireless receiving station at Point Reyes National Seashore in California is considered one of the most beautiful tree tunnels in the world.
Do you recognize the dits and dahs? I memorized what they meant for a Boy Scout badge back in the Dark Ages, back before satellites and modern communication systems came to connect almost anyone, anywhere, anytime. Here’s a clue: the three dots stands for S, and the three dashes for O. Think SOS: Save Our Ship. You will recognize the whole alphabet spelled out in dits and dahs as Morse Code, named after the American inventor Samuel Morse, who developed it in 1838.
Morse Code
Combined with telegraph lines and operators, it revolutionized communication. Getting the quickest message between points A and B no longer required finding the fastest horse or train. Seconds instead of days or weeks became the rule for sending important communications over long distances.
What Morse did for land based communication, Guglielmo Marconi did for oceans. His claim to fame was being the prime inventor of wireless communication using radio waves. He started at the young age of 21, working in his attic in Italy with his butler Mignani. (I am reminded of the young Steve Jobs, sans butler, working out of his garage in Palo Alto.) Like Jobs, Marconi was an entrepreneurial genius as well as an electronics wizard, or geek, if you prefer. He began by sending a message across his attic in 1894 to ring a bell. By 1902, he’d cornered the market on sending wireless messages using Morse Code across the Atlantic Ocean.
Ships at sea and their passengers were among the primary beneficiaries of the new technology. “Surprise, you are a new father. Send money,” could now be transmitted immediately instead of weeks down the line. There was also a safety factor. For the iceberg bound Titanic, it meant that 30% of its passengers were saved— instead of none.
By 1914, Marconi had extended his operation to the Pacific Ocean and built sending and receiving stations in the Marin County towns of Bolinas and Marshall north of San Francisco. (Because of interference, sending and receiving stations had to be separated.) During and immediately after World War I, military concerns combined with a touch of nationalism, and, I suspect, a generous dollop of old-fashioned greed, led to the take over of Marconi’s American operation and its transformation into RCA, the Radio Corporation of America.
A mural in Olema, California just north of San Francisco that provides a look at what the community looked like when it served as the Pacific Ocean telegraph sending station for Marconi-RCA telegraph. The blue surfboard represents a bit of artist creativity. (grin)
An early photo of the Marconi receiving site in the small town of Marshall on Tomales Bay. Workers lived in the hotel.
The hotel as it looks today as part of the Marconi Conference Center.
Old Highway 57, the dirt road, once serviced the Marshall Marconi wireless receiving site. Modern Highway 1 is seen below along with Tomales Bay. The distant hills are part of Point Reyes National Seashore.
Historic Marshall included this old/now deserted seafood restaurant built in 1873.
Today, Marshall is known for its oysters and kayak eco-tours.
I found this old rocking chair sitting along Highway 1. All it needed was an old codger to sit in it.
In 1929, the Marshall operation was moved to Point Reyes. It was still there actively receiving messages when I first started visiting the National Seashore in the late 60s and early 70s. A forest of receiving antennas and no trespassing signs announced its presence. Most of the communication with American ships involved in the Vietnam War passed through the facility. On July 12, 1999, the station sent its last message. Dits and dahs had been made obsolete by bits and bytes.
I was drawn there on my August trip up the North Coast of California by a statement I had found on the Net stating that the cypress trees at the entrance formed one of the most beautiful tree tunnels in the world. Even though I had driven by the facility dozens of times over the years, I had never noticed. Shame on me. When I drove up, a group of amateur photographers with expensive cameras were busily proving the point. I joined the queue with my small Cannon S-100.
I was also blessed with a touch of serendipity. A display sign announced that the Maritime Radio Historical Society was featuring a display on telegraph use in Marconi’s impressive Art Deco headquarters. I drove down under the tunnel of trees and walked through the building’s open door. An hour later I emerged with the distinctive sound of a telegraph keys clattering away in my ears and enough information for a dozen blogs.
The lovely art deco building was built by Marconi-RCA for its telegraph receiving station at Point Reyes National Seashore.
Steven King, a volunteer with the Maritime Historical Radio Society and the Point Reyes National Seashore spent most of an hour explaining how the Marconi-RCA wireless receiving station worked during its heyday.
Every ship at sea had its own call sign for receiving telegraphs. These were left when the last telegraphs were sent out in 1999.
A view of the telegraph receiving antennas as they look today.
I had a final opportunity to drive under the beautiful bower of trees as I returned to the highway.
NEXT BLOG: I head north for the small town of Bodega to explore where Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds was filmed and discover a church that was photographed by Ansel Adams.
Wandering through Time and Place 
Another great bit of history with lovely fotos as well. I remember learning the beginnings of Morse code. Boy scouts also had some form of communicating by the use of two flags. It went together with learning all sorts of knots as well.
Thanks Gerard. Semaphore flags used between ships in sight of each other. I also remember the knots… We used to have races to see who could tie them the most quickly. I still use some of them. 🙂 –Curt
That first shot is absolutely amazing!
The tree tunnel was special, Cindy. –Curt
Last year I went to Ireland and visited Valentia Island the eastern end of the first transatlantic telegraph cable.
I like that avenue of trees!
I should have mentioned the transatlantic telegraph cable. It was another major story in the development of communication between Europe and the Americas. The avenue is special. –Curt
We’ve come a long way with communications. Thanks for reminding us about the way it used to be before bits and bytes, and honouring the legacy of the inventors/enterpreneurs of that time. One day, future generations will write posts like yours about our time.
I would love to cycle through the breathtaking tunnel of cypress trees.
Even now, as I type these words, Timi, I am reminded that what we do now would fit the description sci/fi-fantasy a mere 30 years ago. As for the tree tunnel, it has a timeless beauty. –Curt
Very interesting post here, Curt. I never knew this info. I got a kick out of the volunteer having the same as my favorite author too!
I almost asked if they did a Halloween show. He did tell me they still sent telegraphs out to the Titanic (but never heard back). If they did, that would definitely touch on Steven King. 🙂 –Curt
I’m sure S. King would have something to say about that!!
Great post! I am looking forward to your future posts on the coast. I don’t normally do this but I am struck by how close your tree tunnel photo looks to a tree tunnel photo I took this summer in Ireland. Check it out… they are doppelgangers. I also love the photo of the art deco building. It is awesome.
http://bulldogtravels.com/2015/09/23/dark-hedges-ballycastle-northern-ireland/
Thanks. And right you are! The photos of the two tree tunnels are quite similar. Ireland is appropriately a bit more on the green side. 🙂 –Curt
Definitely! Especially since our drought here. 🙂
Stunning tree arbour/avenue. Re migrants and invention, look at this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35076976
Banksy did a portrait of Steve Jobs (son of a Syrian migrant!) on a wall in the Calais ‘jungle camp’.
Over and over, Hilary, migrants bring vitality and new ideas to stagnant societies, contributing much more than they ever cost. –Curt
I’ve just finished a book set during the Mexican-American War and was a bit surprised to learn from it that Samuel Morse was a rabid anti-Catholic anti-immigrant nativist. Interestingly, it’s easy to imagine some of the crazy things he said coming right out of the mouths of some well-known political figures of today.
Ah yes, the Know Nothing Party. Morse’s father, Jedidiah Morse, was also responsible for creating mass hysteria related to the Illuminati, almost single handedly. I’ve been reading a book called “American Hysteria— The Untold Story of Mass Political Extremism in the United States” by Andrew Burt. Apparently it’s a story we have to go through every few decades and now it is our turn again, Bill. –Curt
Interesting post & great photos. Love the trees. The mention of Marconi brought back memories of working in sat comms. One of the earth stations used for traffic was the Marconi E/S.
Thank you. Also interesting on the sat comms. As I’ve noted before, you have an interesting background! –Curt
When I got my HAM license, Morse Code still was required. I can’t remember now what the requirement was, but I passed, with an ability to receive and send twelve words a minute. Amazing, really.
I was surprsed by a bit of serendipity this morning. Dr. Goodword had SOS as the Word of the Day.
I had learned that SOS was “meaningless” but had forgotten about that. The good word doc has a good explanation of that.
Speaking of changing technologies, one of the LORAN stations was in Monrovia. When I began sailing, we still were using LORAN. President Obama declared it obsolete in 2009, but I see that a bill just has been introduced to prevent the dismantling of the system, while upgrading it to serve as a backup. That makes sense to me, but I need to read more about it to see where things stand.
Oh, shoot. Feel free to work your magic up there.
Cleaning up comments that somehow got buried, Linda.:) I had to learn Morris Code as a Boy Scout but your skills far exceeded mine. Interesting on LORAN. I didn’t know Monrovia had a station. As for holding it as a backup, did you ever see the movie Independence Day where the old system saves the world! –Curt
Interesting bit of history. That tree tunnel is beautiful, there used to be something a bit like that where I live but the council chopped all the trees down!
How sad, Carly. A story unfortunately retold all too often. Did they cut down the trees to widen a road? –Curt
No they said it was a safety issue, there was a big fuss but they got their way in the end! There were lots of rumours circulating at the time. I still don’t know why they did it. I could believe one tree to be a safety risk,maybe, but all of them???
Really love that tunnel of trees! You did well with your camera, and it’s a place I’d love to see. We’ve been to Point Reyes Lighthouse, but the fog was so heavy, we saw almost nothing. So, I guess we have two reasons now to return to the area. Thanks for the history.
Thanks. The same road that takes you out to the lighthouse goes right by the Marconi Station! So it easy to incorporate both. The station might not be open, but the tunnel of trees is just off the road. –Curt
Now, here’s another place I’d like to return to. In addition to my Bucket List, I may have just created a Do-Over Bucket List. Thanks for the pics and the always great commentary!
And thank you. I have a very long Do-Over Bucket List. Laughing here. May yours grow ever longer! –Curt
What a fun place to visit and the hour-long explanation would have been good to hear.
It was very interesting, AC, and kept my attention the whole time. –Curt