STORMY WEATHER

This old growth redwood fell along the park's Redwood Loop Trail (between trail guide posts #8 and #9, just past the mid-point of the loop) during a strong storm on January 19, 2017. 

Though the falling of large redwoods in the grove is rare, the fury of storms in the grove has often been frightening to those who experienced them. When John Hooper served as resort manager from 1876-1881, he and his family soon learned that Big Trees Grove was not a nice place to spend the stormy season. 

The May 4, 1878 Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel noted that during the past winter ...

“Hooper had to leave the Felton Big Tree Grove four times on account of falling trees. During one windstorm he and his family spent a night in the Fremont Tree. He says the trees groaned and lashed one another, falling here and there, their tops, as they swayed about, looking like an angry sea, and the sound of their fall was like unto the explosion of a hundred cannon."

According to the January 1, 1881 Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, “… Major Hooper spent several of his nights standing, and during the present week, and just above the Big Tree House, a tree, five feet through, was blown to the ground. The howling of the blast, the falling of limbs and the groaning of the forest monsters, tend to disturbing the nerves and making man and woman sigh for anything but ‘some vast wilderness.’”  

 Photograph of the Giant, circa 1910 courtesy of Frank Perry; other photographs from California State Parks

A GRAND GROVE

The Ancient Order of Druids was founded in 1781 in London, England to promote harmony and good fellowship. In the United States this non-political, non-denominational fraternal benefit society became known as the United Ancient Order of Druids. In 1860 the first Grove was established in California at Hangtown (now known as Placerville) as a brotherhood to assist the families of miners injured or killed in the gold fields. By the early 20^th century over 200 local Groves were chartered with nearly 15,000 members. The Groves’ ceremonies were loosely based upon ancient Druid rituals once practiced in the oak groves of Old England. 

Though the Druids came to Big Trees Grove for picnics since the 1870s, it was not until 1938 that a redwood was dedicated to their organization.  

On Sunday, August 14^th approximately 2,500 Druids held a picnic at “Hopkins’ Big Trees” (Cowell’s Big Trees). The tree dedicated to the Grand Grove of Druids was chosen during the previous year’s convention which was held in Santa Cruz. The placing of a bronze plaque was accompanied with a basket luncheon followed with dancing and games.

The exact location of the Grand Grove of Druids Tree remains uncertain. 

Sources:  Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, May 12, 1877 and Santa Cruz Evening News, August 15, 1938

WISH YOU WERE HERE

Though postcards were produced for several decades, it was not until the 1890s that photography began to be more widely used to illustrate them. During the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago the publisher Charles Goldsmith produced an official set of colorful postcards of the event which proved wildly popular. The craze for postcards reached a high point just after 1900.

Postcards were an inexpensive, easy way to communicate with friends and family, not unlike text or instant messaging today. Though postcard images spanned the spectrum from city views to humorous vignettes, perhaps the most popular were scenes of tourist destinations. The proprietors of Big Trees Grove and their nearest competitor, Cowell’s Big Trees, maintained an array of postcards featuring the grove’s largest trees and visitors enjoying resort amenities.  

Milo Hopkins, manager of Cowell’s Big Trees, had far fewer big trees than his neighbors. To best compete with the Welch family, Hopkins chose not to charge an admission fee.

 

He began in 1902 with construction of the Clubhouse where he furnished lunches to arriving railroad passengers. He soon built a gift shop next to the Clubhouse where he sold redwood souvenirs, “bottles of pop, confectionery, [and] postcards.” Many of Hopkins’ postcards featured images of these accommodations.

To the left of the gift shop in the postcard above, please note the pavilion where Hopkins hosted dancing and meals for special occasions.   

Sources:  Postcards from the Scott Peden Collection and the Author's Personal Collection; The Sinaites: A Chronicle of Happy Days by Edward Ambler Armstrong, 1922.