<P> Pacific Grove was founded in 1875 by a group of Methodists who modeled the town after Ocean Grove, New Jersey . In time, the butterflies, fragrant pines and fresh sea air brought others to the Pacific Grove Retreat to rest and meditate . The initial meeting of the Pacific Coast branch of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle was held in Pacific Grove in June 1879 . Modelled after the Methodist Sunday school teachers' training camp established in 1874 at Lake Chautauqua, N.Y., this location became part of a nationwide educational network . In November 1879, after the summer campers returned home, Robert Louis Stevenson wandered into the deserted campgrounds: "I have never been in any place so dreamlike . Indeed, it was not so much like a deserted town as like a scene upon the stage by daylight, and with no one on the boards ." Today, Stevenson School in nearby Pebble Beach is named after the author . The Pacific Grove post office opened in 1886, closed later that year, and was re-opened in 1887 . Pacific Grove incorporated in 1889 . </P> <P> Pacific Grove, like Carmel - by - the - Sea and Monterey, became an artists' haven in the 1890s and subsequent period . Artists of the En plein air school in both Europe and the United States were seeking an outdoor venue which had natural beauty, so that Pacific Grove was a magnet for this movement . English painter William Adam and other artists moved to Pacific Grove in the early 1900s . For a number of years, John Steinbeck lived in a cottage in Pacific Grove owned by his father, Ernest, who was Monterey County Treasurer . The cottage still stands on a quiet side street, without any plaque or special sign, virtually overlooked by most Steinbeck fans . In Steinbeck's book Sweet Thursday, a chapter is dedicated to describing a (probably fictional) rivalry that arose among the town's residents over the game of roque . </P> <P> The Point Piños Light in Pacific Grove is the oldest continually operating lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States . It was built in 1855, and has served as an aid to navigation ever since . </P> <P> In 1902 James Frank Devendorf and Frank Powers, on behalf of the Carmel Development Company, filed a new subdivision map of the core village that became Carmel - by - the - Sea . The Carmel post office opened the same year . In 1910, the Carnegie Institution established the Coastal Laboratory, and a number of scientists moved to the area . Carmel incorporated in 1916 . </P>

Small coastal town on california's monterey peninsula