Mission Santa Cruz was a Spanish mission founded in 1791 by the Franciscan order in present-day Santa Cruz, California, dedicated by Father Fermín de Lasuén, second president of the Alta California missions. The mission was named for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, adopting the name given to a nearby creek by the missionary priest Juan Crespi, who accompanied the explorer Gaspar de Portolá when he camped on the banks of the San Lorenzo River on October 17, 1769.
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a popular tourist destination, owing to its beaches, surf culture, and historic landmarks.
Santa Cruz County, officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,861. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County comprises the Santa Cruz–Watsonville, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area. The county is on the California Central Coast, south of the San Francisco Bay Area region. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay, with Monterey County forming the southern coast.
Live Oak is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California between the cities of Santa Cruz and Capitola and north of the former Union Pacific railroad. Live Oak sits at an elevation of 102 feet (31 m). The population was 17,038 at the 2020 census. The population of the greater Live Oak area, including Twin Lakes and Pleasure Point, was 27,921.
Branciforte, originally named Villa de Branciforte, was the last of only three secular pueblos founded by the Spanish colonial government of Alta California. The pueblo was established in 1797 on the eastern bluff of the San Lorenzo River, facing Mission Santa Cruz on the west side of the river, in modern-day Santa Cruz, California. The pueblo never prospered, and the area was annexed into the city of Santa Cruz, California in 1905.
The San Lorenzo River is a 29.3 miles (47.2 km) long river whose headwaters originate in Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains and flow south by southeast through the San Lorenzo Valley before passing through Santa Cruz and emptying into Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
Josiah Belden, known in Spanish as Josías Belden, was a Californian politician and trader. He was born in Connecticut, eventually emigrating to Alta California. In California, he became a Mexican citizen, a prominent trader, and a rancho grantee.
Gabriel Moraga was a Sonoran-born Californio explorer and army officer. He was the son of the expeditionary José Joaquín Moraga who helped lead the de Anza Expedition to California in 1774, Like his father, Moraga is one of the most notable Spanish expeditionaries in the history of Alta California and the origin of the names of many of the most notable rivers and cities of Northern California and the Central Valley.
The Gabilan Range or Gabilán Range are a mountain range in the inner California Coast Ranges System, located in Monterey County and San Benito County of central California. Pinnacles National Park is located in the southern section of the range.
Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca de Carini y Branciforte, 1st Marquess of Branciforte,, was an Italian military officer of the Spanish Empire, who served as 53rd Viceroy of New Spain from July 12, 1794, to May 31, 1798.
Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero y Santayana was a Spanish Lieutenant general best known for repelling Admiral Nelson's attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1797.
The Awaswas people, also known as Santa Cruz people, are one of eight divisions of the Ohlone Native Americans of Northern California. The Awaswas lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains and along the coast of present-day Santa Cruz County from present-day Davenport to Aptos. The name for this area in Awaswas was Aulinta.
Carbonera Creek is a 10.2-mile-long (16.4 km) watercourse in Santa Cruz County, California, that eventually flows to the San Lorenzo River.
Branciforte Creek is a 5.8-mile (9.3 km) long watercourse in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. Branciforte Creek rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and discharges to the San Lorenzo River, which in turn empties into the Pacific Ocean. Within the State of California Branciforte Creek is classified within the Central Coast Basin. As of the year 2002, the State of California has designated Branciforte Creek as impaired with respect to turbidity and pathogens. The Branciforte watershed consists of 6,231 acres (25.22 km2), approximately 70 percent of which is covered with mixed evergreen forest, conifer forest and other undisturbed habitats.
The Branciforte Adobe, also known as the Craig-Lorenzana Adobe, is the only remaining dwelling from the Villa de Branciforte, the settlement that was established in 1797 at the time of the Mission Santa Cruz.
José Joaquín de la Santísima Trinidad Moraga, usually simply known as José Joaquín Moraga, was a Spanish colonial expeditionary and soldier who founded San Jose, California, in 1777.
Rancho San Agustin was a 4,437-acre (17.96 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Cruz County, California given in 1833 by Governor José Figueroa to José Antonio Bolcoff. The grant was bounded by the San Lorenzo River on the west and Rancho Carbonera on the south, and encompassed present-day Scotts Valley.
Rancho Tres Ojos de Agua was a 176-acre (0.71 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Santa Cruz County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Nicolás Dodero. The name translates literally as "three eyes of water" (springs). The grant was located on both sides of present-day High Street around its intersection with Spring Street, in Santa Cruz.
