diff --git a/storage-bigtable/README.md b/storage-bigtable/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..66914bf2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/storage-bigtable/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+
+## BigTable Setup
+
+### Development Environment
+The Cloud BigTable emulator can be used during development/test.  See
+https://cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/emulator for general setup information.
+
+Process:
+1. Run `gcloud beta emulators bigtable start` in the background
+2. Run `$(gcloud beta emulators bigtable env-init)` to establish the `BIGTABLE_EMULATOR_HOST` environment variable
+3. Run `./init-bigtable.sh` to configure the emulator
+4. Develop/test
+
+### Production Environment
+Export a standard `GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS` environment variable to your
+service account credentials.  The project should contain a BigTable instance
+called `solana-ledger` that has been initialized by running the `./init-bigtable.sh` script.
+
+Depending on what operation mode is required, either the
+`https://www.googleapis.com/auth/bigtable.data` or
+`https://www.googleapis.com/auth/bigtable.data.readonly` OAuth scope will be
+requested using the provided credentials.
diff --git a/storage-bigtable/init-bigtable.sh b/storage-bigtable/init-bigtable.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..3b988e2ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/storage-bigtable/init-bigtable.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Configures a BigTable instance with the expected tables
+#
+
+set -e
+
+instance=solana-ledger
+
+cbt=(
+  cbt
+  -instance
+  "$instance"
+)
+if [[ -n $BIGTABLE_EMULATOR_HOST ]]; then
+  cbt+=(-project emulator)
+fi
+
+for table in blocks tx tx-by-addr; do
+  (
+    set -x
+    "${cbt[@]}" createtable $table
+    "${cbt[@]}" createfamily $table x
+    "${cbt[@]}" setgcpolicy $table x maxversions=1
+    "${cbt[@]}" setgcpolicy $table x maxage=360d
+  )
+done