Caroline M. Nichols Churchill (1833-1926) | 2 Scripts

Monterey's Whales

From Over the purple hills, or Sketches of travel in California, embracing all the important points usually visited by tourists, 1881

Today, whale watching in Monterey Bay has become a fun and educational outing, but at one time visiting the central coast was a dangerous undertaking—at least for the whales. Monterey Bay's shore-whaling industry was established in the early 1850s and did not end until 1971. As travel writer Caroline M. Nichols Churchill noted, fewer whales were visiting the Bay by the late 1880s after being targeted for their valuable blubber.

The port was formerly quite a resort for whales, which came in from the ocean for the chance of procuring food in the more shallow waters of the bay. It is said that with this creature the period of gestation commences in the North, and is finished in the Southern seas . . . they do not call as frequently as they did twenty years ago, because they have been mercilessly slaughtered here. However, I never hear of Monterey but that they have taken another whale, which the whole population turn out to see, as if it were a novelty . . . The beach is strewn with the bleaching bones of these sea monsters, and sections of vertebra a foot across are converted into sidewalks, stretching half a block, or the length of an adobe house. It is supposed that only inexperienced, restless young whales, which refuse to follow the advice of their seniors, now put in at this landing where so many have lost their lives.

Caroline M. Nichols Churchill wrote about Monterey's whales in her 1881 book, From Over the Purple Hills, or Sketches of Travel in California.

–Contributed by Emily Elrod.

Santa Clara University

From Little Sheaves, 1874

In the late 1800s, Santa Clara was a place of genial climate, lush flora, Elysian landscapes, elegant architecture and . . . exotic birds with too much to say.

Describing Santa Clara's Catholic institution of higher learning with the tourist in mind, Caroline M. Churchill describes a rather tranquil and agreeable place . . . until you reach the parrots.

Among those institutions which attract the attention of the stranger and tourist is her Monastery, or so-called Catholic College for boys and young men—a very extensive and imposing structure, modeled after the Doric and Corinthian style of architecture. It is built of adobe, with an external finish resembling stone, and the great depth of its windows attest the thickness of its walls, presenting a castellated and port-like appearance. . . . The grounds surrounding the college are very spacious, handsomely laid out, and beautifully ornamented with trees, flowering shrubs and the brilliant, blooming exotics of the country. . . . while small trellises are completely hidden by clementhis, roses and other climbers. The playgrounds contain gymnastic apparatus, and chattering parrots give the stranger the impression that the language of the pupils is more characteristic of rude frontier life and association, than of the educational refinement of an institution of learning as munificently endowed as this one appears to be. "Dry up," "You lie," "You bet," and other like ejaculations are screeched from the throats of the feathery chatterers, till one wonders if they hear nothing else to imitate. . . .

Caroline M. Nichols Churchill recounts her experiences in California in Little Sheaves, published in 1874.

–Contributed by Phil Le.