Apricots in Paradise: Tracing the Roots of a Garden Legacy

It is snowy and cold in many parts of America this time of year. But March, in the San Francisco Bay Area is the time of year our many fruit trees begin to bloom.

I had not intended to spend the rest of my career, after the publication of California Apricots: The Lost Orchards of Silicon Valley (History Press 2013), writing about apricots. It is just that people can't seem get enough information about them. I can certainly understand that.

In fact, I'm working on a new book about six exceptional people who made a difference in California history, from 1769 to 1931. I'm wrapping that manuscript up now and that book should be out this fall, again from History Press.

California's Juana Briones and the Mystery of a Photograph

Descendants of Santa Clara Valley pioneer Juana Briones believe this photograph to be Juana.

Only available through the Point Reyes National Seashore Archive, it may not be used without their permission.

I am working on research for a new book about some exceptional people in California. There have been so many who have lived and worked in the region of the San Francisco Bay Area, long before Silicon Valley. While researching this group, I've uncovered lots of interesting stories.

One of them, Juana Briones, had family who came with the first Spanish-speaking civilians to settle in the San Francisco Bay Area. Juana's mother came to California as a four year old, with Juan Bautista de Anza, settling with her parents in the first pueblo of California, the pueblo of San Jose.