The Watsonville First United Methodist Church is celebrating its 170th anniversary on Oct. 22, 2022. The Methodist congregation was established in Watsonville in 1852 when Rev. D.A. Dryden preached in a grove of cottonwoods & conducted a marriage ceremony on the banks of the Pajaro River. This was believed to be the first American wedding ceremony in the Pajaro Valley. (Marilyn Hyde, Church Historian, watsonville1stumc.org)