[1] The village contains the largest collection of shops and visitor services along the entire 71-mile (114 km) segment of California State Route 1 between Malpaso Creek near Carmel Highlands[3] in the north and San Carpóforo Creek near San Simeon in the south.

[5] The collection of small roadside businesses and homes is often confused with the larger region, also known as Big Sur.

[12] Until about 1924, a rough dirt road that was often impassible in winter connected residents with Carmel and Monterey to the north.

The road extended south 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to Posts and Castro Canyon, ending near the present-day location of Deetjen's Big Sur Inn.

[16] There is a single shuttle van that operates during the summer on Thursday through Sunday from the Big Sur Station to Pfeiffer Beach.

[8] Archaeological evidence shows that the Esselen lived in Big Sur as early as 3500 BC, leading a nomadic, hunter-gatherer existence.

[24][25] Beginning in about 1771, the Native Americans were forcibly relocated and conscripted as laborers at the Carmel Mission, where their way of life were lost to them, and their population was decimated by disease, starvation, overwork, and torture.

[6]: 326  In 1868, Native Americans Manual and Florence Innocenti bought Davis' cabin and land for $50.

[citation needed] Another of the oldest establishments along the coast is the Big Sur River Inn and Restaurant founded in 1934.

During the following winter, four tributaries of the Big Sur River were struck with so much rain that on November 18, 1972, a mudflow deposited several feet of mud around the Post Office and a few other nearby buildings.