Farm tools, toys and kitchen equipment from the early 1900s are on display at the Aptos Public Library.
The display, in several glass cabinets sprinkled around the library, are from the Aptos History Museum’s collection of the Silva Farm in Day Valley.
John Hibble of the Aptos History Museum said Fredrick Hihn harvested the redwoods in Valencia in the late 1800s, “which left the area ripe for the development of farms and apple orchards. These fascinating items are practical and show what life was like for people who lived off the land far from town.”
Hibble was joined recently by Nicole DeLauder of the Aptos Chamber of Commerce in setting up the exhibit.
Also, as part of a permanent exhibit at the library, is a large cabinet packed with artifacts from the Urwán and Pakshan (in Ohlone language) people dating back to 1000 BC. It includes mortar and pestles, arrowheads, and other tools of those times.
Two other large cabinets feature a run down of the Aptos Fire Department, which got its first fire engine in 1929. The second features the railroad with information cards and photos including one of a group of early day Chinese laborers installing a section of track.
AHM offers this timeline of this area, in part:
Historical Timeline Of Aptos
• 7000 BC—Native Americans lived in Santa Cruz County
• 1000 BC—The Ohlones occupied the Monterey Bay area.
• 400 AD—Chinese Sailors are rumored to have discovered Monterey Bay
• 1542—Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed by the coast.
• 1578-79—Sir Francis Drake sailed by the coast.
• 1602—Sebastian Vizcaino discovers Monterey Bay as a port for the Manila galleons.
• 1600-1700—Chinese sailing ships are reported.
• 1769—Gaspar De Portola, together with Father Crespi, leads the first overland expedition through the county October 8-22, and although they discovered signs of the native peoples, they never actually saw the “heathen.”
• 1774—The second Governor General of California, Capitan Don Fernando Javier De Rivera Y Moncada, together with Father Palou, passed down the coast from San Francisco to Carmel and on Dec. 11, discovered the Aptos Indian village of eleven huts above the river.
• 1791—Mission “Exaltacion de la Santa Cruz” (Holy Cross) was started by Father Lasuen and completed in 1794. This was the twelfth mission founded in Alta California. The name “Aptos” is first recorded in baptismal records of the Santa Cruz Mission as a local Native American name for our area.The displays are free and open to the public at 7695 Soquel Dr. Their hours are Mon. to Fri., 10am to 7pm, Fri. 11am to 5pm, Sat. 10am—5pm, Sun. Closed.
