Every sea glass collector dreams of the perfect sea glass beaches. For me, this would be a beach that is covered with beautiful large and colorful pieces of English multis sea glass, smooth and cool under my feet, just waiting for me to pick them up. That could never be you say? Well, you’re right, but only the part about the glass being English Multis. There is one beach that looks like it could be everyone’s idea of a perfect sea glass beach, that is a beach in Murano, Italy. Of course, Murano has a glass making history that dates back thousands of years and is still very active in glass making today.
This picture is one of a glass beach in Murano, Italy.
Another spot that seems to be a perfect sea glass beach is Fort Bragg Beach in Mendocino, California. This beach is actually located on Glass Beach Drive. Again, the amount of glass on the beach changes. I’ve seen different pictures of this beach, some showing it totally covered with glass that appears to be several inches deep, and some that show just a few very small pieces. I have learned to try to find out the date when a picture of the beach was taken. Some showing what look like incredible amounts of sea glass on the beach are over 10 years old. It may be that this beach is like a lot of others, the amount of glass on it depends on the time of year and the tide level.
So what beaches make perfect sea glass beaches? Beaches that have sea glass of course! So what types of beaches would most likely have sea glass on them? Look for ones, like the Sea Glass Beach at Fort Bragg in Mendocino, that has/had a landfill on or near the coastline. Also, look where there have been glass factories in the past. Harpers Ferry is an example, I was able to find several pieces of sea glass there, not smoothed and frosted, but great keep sakes because of the embossing on them. Davenport Beach in California is known for amazing and colorful sea glass finds that come from a now defunct artisan glass studio. Prior glass works are also the origin of beautiful English End of Day or Multi’s sea glass. They come from the Seaham Beach area on the northeast coast of England where there were glass factories for hundreds of years.
I have several beaches that I like to visit near my home in Maryland. I particularly like to visit them Spring, Fall and when I can in the Winter, not as often in the summer. That is because they are in areas in public parks where people gather to fish and picnic, and the likelihood of other people picking up sea glass is higher in the summer simply because they are out on the beach. On occasion I have been pleasantly surprised to visit some beaches in the summer and find sea glass still on the beach, not picked up.
You can go online and do a search for sea glass beaches and you will see lots of advice and articles on “best sea glassing beaches”. Again, pay attention to the date of the article. Sometimes what you will find is that beaches have been “cleaned” of glass due to their mention in an article and them becoming popular. There are some beaches in the Caribbean where tourists and locals alike cart off several bags or buckets of sea glass at a time. I have heard of some people offering trips that include sea glass beach tours. I have never taken one. It doesn’t make much sense to me to go to a beach with 30 or 40 others after the same treasure I am. This is probably one of the reasons that when some people find perfect sea glass beaches they keep the secret to themselves.
This is a picture of a local beach with several pieces of sea glass.
This was something I wasn’t aware of when I started sea glassing. Someone showed me a spot in a local river where there is sea glass and pottery. Even though she was very lucky to have had someone else share the location with her, this person insisted I not share the location with anyone else. I don’t agree with this, but so far I have kept the promise, so far…
