Santa Cruz County serves as the inspiration for a vibrant arts and culture scene, so it’s no wonder there’s an eclectic array of choices for art lovers. However you choose to enjoy Santa Cruz County’s cultural community, an amazing number of choices await.

LOOK FOR

A guide to nearly thirty free history and nature museums and art galleries countywide, and points in-between, found in the Arts and Culture section.

The surfboard with a shark bite in it, at the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, housed inside a quaint lighthouse overlooking the ocean. The museum also includes historic photographs, unsinkable vintage redwood surfboards, and other items tracing over 100 years of surfing history in Santa Cruz.

A giant concrete whale just across from Seabright Beach, where the century-old Museum of Natural History was the city’s first public museum and holds a wealth of information.

Rocky Dog I, II, II, canine sculptures on Pacific Avenue at Lincoln Street in Downtown Santa Cruz, part of the city’s SculpTour public art walking tour.

The collection of Sea Walls Murals found throughout Santa Cruz County.

DID YOU KNOW?

Retail galleries can be found at the Tannery Arts Center, which also hosts performances, lectures and works by artists-in-residence. The free First Friday Art Tour features local galleries and artists’ studios which open their doors to visitors.

Annual art, wine and music festivals are held in Capitola and Scotts Valley.

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History displays historical collections alongside visiting art exhibits. The outdoor rooftop sculpture garden is an exhibition space highlighting pieces in granite, clay, bronze and other mediums.

Downtown Santa Cruz is home to the Santa Cruz Symphony, Actors’ Theatre, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and other festivals and venues for live music.

The Arts Council Santa Cruz County’s Open Studios Art Tour hosts a self-guided countywide tour of hundreds of local artists’ studios in the fall.

Do you know about Santa Cruz’s pioneer cemetery, Evergreen? The Gold Rush era treasure is a stone’s throw from the free samples at Costco, yet it’s possible you’ve zipped past it on Highway 1 without realizing one of California’s most enthralling historic sites was hidden in plain view.

Tucked into a forested hillside adjacent to Harvey West Park, the atmospheric cemetery was founded in 1850 making it one of the first cemeteries in the state (California became a state a few months after its founding). It’s owned and managed by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) and tended to by an active committee of volunteers. They have a wonderful vision to restore the grounds and create a virtual historical sculpture garden — each ornate grave marker a meaningful art piece  — where residents and visitors can learn about Santa Cruz’s history in a setting that literally holds the town’s former residents and their stories.

NOTABLE RESIDENTS

The cemetery would make for a heck of a cocktail party if its residents were above ground. It holds a wildly diverse cast of characters who transformed the seaside town of Santa Cruz from a mission into a city. As you stroll its grounds, you’ll note early pioneers, Civil War veterans, and Chinese immigrants amongst the 2,000 people laid to rest there. Here are just a few of the stories that you might discover:

London Nelson was a slave from North Carolina who arrived in Santa Cruz in the early 1850s as a free man. He bought land near what is now the Main Post Office. Saddened by the closure of an adjacent two-room school, the illiterate Nelson bequeathed his entire estate to the Santa Cruz School District which resulted in the school’s reopening.

Isaac Graham epitomized the popular perception of the lawless Wild West. Before earning a street in his name, the gun-toting mountain man helped overthrow a Mexican governor, ran a distillery and helped found the first water-powered saw mill in Felton. Along the way, he made his fair share of enemies and was believed to be poisoned to death in San Francisco.

Marie Holmes was an alleged prostitute who at the age of twenty-one committed suicide via carbolic acid along Pacific Avenue. But like many individuals buried at Evergreen, her headstone went missing at some point during the cemetery’s neglected years. Two years ago, a hiker found it laying on the side of steep forested hill near Bonny Doon, some 12 miles from the original site. It was restored in 2013.

AJ Sloan was a Private in the Mexican American War and is commonly credited for being the famous ghost of Arana Gulch. Legend has it that he was murdered in the gulch and his ghost has haunted the area ever since. Yet an Evergreen volunteer recently found evidence that his death may have been faked. This of course suggests that early sightings of his “ghost” may have actually been the actual living person.

Visitors to the cemetery will notice a beautiful 17-foot Chinese Gate that serves as a monument to the roughly 100 early Chinese immigrants who were buried at Evergreen — most with wooden markers that did not survive. It is also meant to memorialize the many Chinatowns that once thrived in the area and had a significant impact on Santa Cruz but whose legacy has since been erased from sight.

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

Join a Restoration

Come out any Friday throughout the year and join a restoration effort from 9:30am – 12:30pm. Swing by to help with basic gardening like pulling weeds and clearing walkways, all while discovering Santa Cruz County History. Gloves and tools are provided. Explore the grounds, meet other local history buffs and discover more about the people who made Santa Cruz what it is today. No need to RSVP, just stop by ready to work..

Take a Tour

There’s a great, informative self-guided walking tour from the MAH’s website. You can also arrange a private tour through the MAH’s volunteer committee. Tours last one hour and are led by trained docents. For more information, call 831-429-1964.