Cheryl Anne Stapp
Architect Lilian J. Rice
She died young but her influence endures, not least because several of her works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
top of page
California's Olden Golden Days
Search
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Mar 133 min read
Doña Francisca Vallejo
A dark-eyed beauty, Francisca Carrillo was born in San Diego when California was still a province of Imperial Spain, and raised in the...
31 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Mar 63 min read
Poet Laureate Ina Coolbrith
She was a poet, an editor, a teacher, a librarian, and a prominent figure in San Francisco’s literary community in the 19th and early...
10 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Feb 282 min read
Provisions Going West
The courageous folks who braved the overland trek to California in the 1840s knew they had to take enough food to last six months. After...
15 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Feb 212 min read
California: What's in a Name?
Many American states derived their names from native American Indian words, some from European monarchs; a few from early French or...
2 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Feb 73 min read
Pirate Invades Monterey
In 1818, while the future Republic of Mexico and other Spanish-owned regions in South America were fighting a war of independence against...
6 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jan 311 min read
New Year Traditions
In the bygone days of the 19th century, Californians celebrated the coming of a new year much like we do today, with parties, games,...
8 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jan 242 min read
Gold Discovery Anniversary
Today, January 24, 2024, is the anniversary of the California gold discovery, an event that changed the known world 176 years ago. On a...
13 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jan 173 min read
1994 LA Earthquake
It remains one of the lesser-known neighborhoods in the huge San Fernando Valley— a sprawling vale that contains both city and county...
10 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Jan 32 min read
To the Gold Mines by Sea
For the frenzied gold rushers who traveled to the California gold mines by sea, the voyage itself was truly a great adventure … just not...
20 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 27, 20231 min read
New Year 2024
NEXT SUNDAY NIGHT WE BID FAREWELL TO 2023 AND WELCOME THE NEW YEAR 2024 IN FAMILIAR, TIME-HONORED WAYS: WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY, WE TOAST...
5 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 20, 20232 min read
The Pioneers Brought Santa
The Americans who trekked to California in covered wagons in the 1840s and later made that arduous journey because they wanted to find a...
3 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 13, 20232 min read
Tokens for Christmas
During the chaotic early days of the California Gold Rush, the majority of the population were men who were far from home, seeking their...
8 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Dec 6, 20235 min read
Lost Love in the Early 20th Century
How much does it cost to ruin romance? Substantial money, apparently, because that’s what four women hoped to gain in 1914-15 when each...
2 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Nov 29, 20233 min read
Agriculture & Art at the Mid-Point
It is famous for its raisins, for its geographic centrality midway between northern and southern California; and as a gateway to...
8 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Nov 15, 20232 min read
Murphys
Most of them are still there, lining tree-shadowed Main Street, and still in operation: the now-historic structures that were built in...
12 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Nov 8, 20234 min read
Mountain of Gold
They said it was the greatest gold discovery since James Marshall’s original discovery at Coloma in 1848. In November 1855, following the...
7 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Nov 1, 20233 min read
Taylor's Pioneer Paper Mill
He turned out to be one of the lucky gold rushers . . . though it can certainly be said that he made his own luck. Three-plus years after...
24 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Oct 25, 20232 min read
Goin' Upriver to the Gold Mines
In 1849, gold rushers who went West by sea still had to travel upriver to reach the interior gold regions, after their ship landed at San...
17 views0 comments
Cheryl Anne Stapp
Oct 18, 20232 min read
Shipboard Grub
The stampede from America’s Atlantic Coast started in early December, 1848, when President James Polk publicly confirmed that the gold...
3 views0 comments
bottom of page