Archive for the 'Local Lore' Category

A Weekend at Mount Madonna

Monday, March 19th, 2007

We spent the weekend with other members of Neil’s cub scout troop at Mount Madonna. Mount Madonna is a popular local camping locale on the border of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. One reason for its popularity is that its western slope faces the Monterey Bay so it’s always cool, but never cold, and [...]

The Mysterious Disappearance and Death of Christina Marie Williams

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

In June of 1998 a 13-year-old girl, Christina Williams, disappeared while walking her dog in the Monterey area town of Seaside. The story still haunts me. Of course, we all hoped Christina would be found, preferably alive and well.
Her parents made regular appearances on the local news channels, the father holding the hand of the [...]

The Notorious Tale of San Jose’s Grant Family

Thursday, February 15th, 2007

Last fall, we took a tour of the Grant family home in San Jose’s Joseph D. Grant park, and we heard a riveting story of gold-rush wealth, local nobility, homosexuality, alcoholism, and homicide: the rise and fall of a great family in just three generations. The history of the San Francisco Bay Area is rife [...]

by Carolyn Bickford