Boulder Creek Business Association Commissions Hand-painted Mural
By Yeshe Jackson
I was absolutely honored to be asked by the Boulder Creek Business Association to paint this mural. Having been born and raised in Boulder Creek, the idea of creating a large work that commemorated the creation of Big Basin State Park and celebrated the beauty of the town was a dream come true.
The BCBA and I worked with the Boulder Creek Museum to find photos to work from, which I then combined into the design that you now see on the side of Johnnie’s Super Market.
Featured from left to right are the McCarry Ridge overlook, a group of Boulder Creek loggers from the 1800s, a lumber mill from the same time, Sempervirens Falls, a vintage style welcome sign, and the Commercial Hotel, which stood where Johnnie’s Super Market now stands.
We will be having an event later this month, probably the week before the Santa Cruz Mountains Harvest Festival, to celebrate the mural’s completion. Be on the lookout for announcements soon!
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Scenes From Local History
By Lisa Robinson
A closer look at the new mural in downtown Boulder Creek.
Skyline-to-the-Sea
The Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail runs from the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains along the old Saratoga Toll Road through Castle Rock and Big Basin State Parks to the ocean at Waddell’s Beach. William Waddell, a pioneer millman, died in 1872 as a result of a bite from a grizzly bear. California Grizzly Bears roamed the canyons until the 1890s.
First Redwood Felled
William Peery, adopted son of Boulder Creek pioneer lumberman Joseph W. Peery, stands with his hands on his hips on top of a giant redwood. This tree was the first to be felled in the forests above Big Basin by the Hartman and Peery Lumber Company.
Bear Creek Sawmill
Twins Austin and Oscar Harmon came to Boulder Creek in the late 1860s. They built this sawmill on Bear Creek in 1886. The twins are credited with pioneering the construction of the Bear Creek Toll Road to Lexington in the 1870s. This would become a county road in 1890.
Sempervirens Falls
Sempervirens Falls is so named for the camp that the Sempervirens Club used in their early trips to the Big Basin. The club was formed on May 15, 1900 by a group of eight preservationists; six men and two women. They camped close to the falls at the foot of Slippery Rock on the Sequoia Trail at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
The Commercial Hotel
The Commercial Hotel was built in 1897 by lumber baron Henry L. Middleton. Middleton recognized the importance of his first growth redwood holdings in the Big Basin and it was the state purchase of his land that resulted in California’s first Redwood State Park in 1902. Middleton entertained dignitaries at the hotel to promote the formation of the park. The hotel was renamed Big Basin Hotel in 1914. It was razed in 1956 by Johnnie Montanari to make way for Johnnie’s Super.
(c) September 2019, Julie Horner
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