6 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY NOVEMBER 7-13, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com 831 The San Antonio Valley Historical Association keeps history alive in South Monterey County by attracting enthusiasts from across the county and neighboring areas. It does this by offering tours to different places in the region, as well as sharing old photographs and stories of residents who lived in the area. SAVHA formed in 1968, when a group of residents came together with the goal to save Dutton Hotel, a two-story adobe in Jolon that was a stagecoach station on Camino Real—a 600-mile route that connected the 21 missions in California, where travelers from San Diego and San Francisco stopped to rest. The group didn’t save the hotel (its remains can still be seen), but it was the beginning of a historical association that has spent time and resources to make sure local history is shared and preserved for generations to come. For a long time, the focus on the organization was on the San Antonio Valley. “Jolon was at one point in time almost one of the largest towns in central California back in the mission days,” says Paul Getzelman, SAVHA’s president. “But that’s not the whole of the historical value of South County, so we’re just trying to include more.” In recent times, the group has expanded its scope to include a larger portion of South Monterey County, including Greenfield, King City, Jolon Valley, San Ardo and San Lucas. “There’s so much more history in this area to be explored,” Getzelman says. All SAVHA members, including those working on any historical project, are volunteers. “I’m still recruiting people as I can find them, who are interested in history and would like to contribute [to] projects,” Getzelman says. He’s trying to broaden the range of historical projects and people who collect historical information. For instance, the group has an oral history archive with recordings that date as far as 1971. “What inspired me the most about this organization is that about 40 years ago, they made a sincere effort to interview and record old-timers, and so they have about 50 interviews that were recorded,” says Karen Jernigan. She and her husband, John Jernigan, are both members of SAVHA and they lead history tours in King City. Jernigan says there is a lot of information people can learn from these recordings. Nowadays, the Jernigans are leading the effort to continue this work by interviewing new people and digitizing old interviews. These interviews are also accessible at the King City branch library. Interviews, old and new, include Wilma Rose, a King City resident who lived on Bassett Street; Darnene Maggini, a Bitterwater resident; and Ernest Clement, a rancher who farmed Spreckels sugar land and died in 2023. “We just want to make sure that those memories are available to the future generations,” says Patricia Woodfill, SAVHA’s photo archivist. For the past five years, SAVHA has invested in digitizing the King City Rustler, a newspaper that has been around since 1901, and making it part of the California Digital Newspaper Collection, a project of the Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research at UC Riverside. So far, the issues from 1901 to 1948 have been digitized. “It’s free to anybody that wants to get on there and search, so it’s great for history,” Jernigan says. There is also a large photo collection available on SAVHA’s website including painted caves, agriculture, people and churches. SAVHA’s physical collection is at the Monterey County Agricultural & Rural Life Museum in King City. Woodfill says many documents and photos in the archive come from donations. “SAVHA has one-of-a-kind images,” Woodfill notes. “A lot of people just drive by these historical buildings, but they don’t know anything about them. SAVHA is trying to promote [local history] and preserve [it] for future generations so that they can connect with the past.” San Antonio Valley Historical Association hosts its annual fundraising event and fall lecture, “Fall at Hesperia Hall,” at 11:30am Saturday, Nov. 16. Hesperia Hall, 51602 Hesperia Hall Road, Bradley. Reservation required by Nov. 8. $20/members; $25/nonmembers. (805) 472-2780, savha.org. Living History A local historical association shares and safeguards the history that shaped South Monterey County. By Celia Jiménez During a San Antonio Valley Historical Association tour earlier in 2024, the group stopped at Tully Hall, a historical building built before 1900 which has been a school, Grange Hall and community center in Bitterwater. “There’s so much history in this area to be explored.” TALES FROM THE AREA CODE CELIA JIMÉNEZ
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