THE FOREST PRIMEVAL

Always a popular spot with tourists, the swinging bridge over the San Lorenzo River denoted the entrance to Big Trees Grove. Originally stage passengers disembarked to traverse a natural bridge formed by a fallen redwood tree. Over the years, this primitive bridge was followed by a succession of suspension bridges. The final version of the swinging bridge was apparently washed away during the 1955 flood.

Author's Personal Collection

“The bridge spanning the San Lorenzo attracted a number of visitors, who with arms listlessly folded leaned over the rails and gazed down on the rippling wavelets as they glittered in the sun … And so the day wore on until the deepening shades falling on the lofty trees and intensifying the gloom suggested to the onlooker Longfellow’s beautiful imagery in the opening lines of  … “ 

Evangeline:

This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,

Bearded with moss and in garments green indistinct in the twilight.

Stand like Druids of eld with voices sad and prophetic.

Stand like harpers hoar with beards that rest on their bosoms.

Source: “Schuetzen Verein – A Round of Festivities,” Santa Cruz Daily Surf, July 16, 1883.