WHO CAME TO THE GROVE

Courtesy of the Glass Family

This circa 1880s image of a large group of families in front of the Giant gives us an idea of who most visitors to Big Trees Grove were in the 19th century. As with other resorts and parks of the era, the visitors were predominately white and middle or upper class. 

Fortunately, this image also seems to provide us a rare glimpse of Victorian domestic life. The lady standing on the far left side of the group appears to be Asian or Native American. She is most likely a servant to one of these families, perhaps a nanny to some of the children. 

In the 20th century the pattern of visitation to the grove slowly began to change. My research revealed that at least one group of Chinese tourists came down to Cowell's Big Trees from San Francisco. Though the date of the group's arrival is unknown, it must have occurred between 1902 and about 1928. Following in the tradition of large picnic excursions to the grove, the San Francisco group reportedly numbered six hundred. Such early encounters sometimes involved misunderstandings and stereotypes. In an effort to prepare for this group, Milo Hopkins, proprietor of the resort, stocked up on tea only to have a run on milk, coffee and soda pop so that "the Santa Cruz Creamery was kept busy bottling and delivering all day long to keep" up with the demand.

Hopefully through further research more evidence of early, diverse visitors or employees at Big Trees Grove will come to light so it can give us a more fully rounded understanding of the grove's history.

In our current atmosphere let us keep a few things in mind. We cannot judge people of the past by our standards today. And no person, past or present, was ever perfect. What we can do is to try our best to tell the full story, both good and bad, as inclusively as possible.

Because in the past some people's stories were not considered important enough to be recorded, it makes the task difficult, but not impossible. In my book Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park - Big Trees Grove, I tried my best with the limited information I found, to include the stories of under-represented groups. I will share more of these in later blog posts.

Sources: “Talley-ho Trip to Our Redwood Groves Left Visitors Speechless,” by Margaret Koch, Santa Cruz Sentinel, March 28, 1965 and first-hand account from the Stewart family, descendants of Milo Hopkins..