Apple Annual
By Elijah Ezeji-Okoye For a short time in Watsonville’s earlier history, autumn was marked by the coming of the Apple Annual. In the early 1900s, the city’s apple industry burgeoned, with new orchards, packinghouses, and shipping centers cropping up across the...
Peter Hauer Family and the Hauer Apple History
By Claire Etienne (Peter Hauer’s great niece and daughter of Muriel Hauer Etienne) Peter Hauer created the Hauer apple around 1900 in Pleasant Valley, near Watsonville. The Hauer apple is an “antique apple.” It is one of only two varieties said to have originated in...
Christmas is Coming!
The Bockius-Orr house, trees, and yard will be lit up for Christmas again this year. Drive by in the evening to see the beautiful lights between November 23 until January 1. (Time approx.. 5pm. – 10 p.m.) The Bockius-Orr house will also have a...
Watsonville Plaza Revitalization
Watsonville historian Betty Lewis wrote “Don Sebastian Rodriguez owned the land grant, Bolsa del Pajaro, on which the city of Watsonville now rests. Some historians say he gave the area now known as the City Plaza to the people of Watsonville in 1860, but Sebastian...
PVHA History
For the last 170 years, the Pajaro Valley has been an opportunity for many different immigrants to improve themselves. Most came with a little except for the desire to make a better life for themselves and their families. The Pajaro Valley was a place where immigrants...
Past Floods
Pajaro at San Juan Road 1937
History of Watsonville First UMC
The Methodist congregation in Watsonville was established in 1852, when Rev. D.A. Dryden preached in a grove of cottonwoods and conducted a marriage ceremony on the banks of the Pajaro River. This was believed to be the first American wedding in the Pajaro...
Bockius-Orr House Up in Lights
Bockius-Orr House Up in Lights By Jodi Frensley Please be sure to drive by the Bockius-Orr house to see our holiday lights display. This year marks the first in PVHA history that the house and historic oak trees will be lit up for the holiday season. The outdoor light...
Stephen Bankhead’s Writings
Stephen Bankhead’s Writings Stephen Bankhead, local resident and writer, passed away in February 2022. His articles and opinion pieces appeared regularly in the Pajaronian and Sentinel. After his death, his family donated many articles that Mr. Bankhead wrote,...
AROMASTORY: The Overlooked History of an Underdog Town
Author Tina Baine is pleased to announce the publication of her book, AROMASTORY: The Overlooked History of an Underdog Town. If you are not that familiar with the rural town of Aromas (pop. 2,500), it sits on the eastern edge of the Pajaro Valley, and its history has...