In 1891 Santa Cruz received its first presidential
visit. But it almost didn’t happen. When President Benjamin Harrison
planned his West Coast visit “he was solicited to put Santa Cruz on his
itinerary; he refused to do so, knowing of no particular attraction in Santa
Cruz that would justify a deviation from his route. Finally some one suggested
the Santa Cruz Big Trees, which subject immediately became a matter of interest
to him, and he ordered his route changed so as to include them. But for the
attraction of these trees President Harrison would never have visited this
city."
The presidential party arrived early at Big Trees Grove via the narrow-gauge train. Pupils of the Felton schools were arranged on either side of the entryway and greeted the president with cheers, songs, and flowers. President and Mrs. Harrison and twenty-five other members of the party strolled the grove, first visiting the Fremont Tree where all of them entered its hollow. Then it was onto the Giant where the president and twelve others joined hands to encircle the monarch.
It was a quick visit, only twenty minutes. Another disappointment ... no photographs of the event. President Harrison considered the stop at the grove a personal visit and requested that no photographs be taken. It was said that even if a photographer desired to take a photograph of the president, he would have a difficult time since the diminutive Harrison kept almost continually on the move.
"At 9 o'clock Conductor O'Neil called 'all aboard' and parting words were rapidly spoken." Before departure, the Native Daughters of the Golden West presented to Mrs. Harrison a handsome slab of polished redwood burl upon which a Miss L. Howard painted "redwood and cliff scenes and a bunch of eschscholzias very finely done."
Harrison won the 1888 election and by 1890 a tree was dedicated to him at Big Trees Grove. The Harrison Tree is actually a group of trees sometimes called the Harrison Group. It was described as containing burls shaped like an Indian head and an elephant head. None of the accounts of his 1891 visit mentioned if the president had time to see the tree group named in his honor.
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| President Benjamin Harrison from the Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Library of Congress |
It was a quick visit, only twenty minutes. Another disappointment ... no photographs of the event. President Harrison considered the stop at the grove a personal visit and requested that no photographs be taken. It was said that even if a photographer desired to take a photograph of the president, he would have a difficult time since the diminutive Harrison kept almost continually on the move.
"At 9 o'clock Conductor O'Neil called 'all aboard' and parting words were rapidly spoken." Before departure, the Native Daughters of the Golden West presented to Mrs. Harrison a handsome slab of polished redwood burl upon which a Miss L. Howard painted "redwood and cliff scenes and a bunch of eschscholzias very finely done."
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| Scott Peden Collection |
Harrison won the 1888 election and by 1890 a tree was dedicated to him at Big Trees Grove. The Harrison Tree is actually a group of trees sometimes called the Harrison Group. It was described as containing burls shaped like an Indian head and an elephant head. None of the accounts of his 1891 visit mentioned if the president had time to see the tree group named in his honor.
Sources:
“Greeting – How Santa Cruz Will Welcome the President”, Santa Cruz Daily
Surf, May 1, 1891; “The President, With a Party
of Distinguished Guests, Honored and Welcomed in Santa Cruz, the City of the
Holy Cross, Visit to the Big Tree Grove,” Santa Cruz Daily Surf, May 2,
1891; The
Round Trip From the Hub to the Golden Gate, by Susie Clark, 1890; "The Felton Big Tree Grove," Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 20, 1902; "Ben's Eyes Opened - Harrison Getting Onto California's Greatness," Los Angeles Herald, May 2, 1891.
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