What happened where you live?

A brief history of San Jose is that there were various indigenous people living in the area. The Spanish came and built missions in the area and subjugated the indigenous people. In 1848 a couple of hundred miles from here gold was discovered and the same year Mexico ceded California to the US. Lots of people moved to the area for gold and other reasons. The Santa Clara valley (where San Jose is located) became a major source of fruits because of all of the orchards in the areas. In 1937 a couple of guys named Hewlett and Packard started an electronics firm in a garage in Palo Alto (about 15 miles north of San Jose), were very successful and encouraged others to start companies. The orchards gradually and then rapidly disappeared giving way to many major hardware and software companies. San Jose is the 10th most populous city in the US.
 

Ruthanne said:
I live in Ohio and Kent is a city not real far away. It is famous for the Kent State University killings of 4 students in 1970, 50 years ago this May:

Four Kent State University students were killed and nine were injured on May 4, 1970, when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd gathered to protest the Vietnam War. The tragedy was a watershed moment for a nation divided by the conflict in Southeast Asia.

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Need I say more....
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I graduated from KSU in 1969. I did go back for our 25th Reunion. Last summer, I drove through the village of Kent. It’s amazing at the changes since I went to school there. The apartment building that housed a young lady that I had dated a few times while at school was gone. I asked a few people what happened to it and they didn’t know. They claimed that they didn’t live there when the building was there.
 
I was born and raised in Philadelphia ,Pa and lived there until almost 2 yrs ago. There are many Historic sites to visit there, like

Betsy Ross House where the
American Flag was made

The Liberty Bell


Climb the “Rocky Steps” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed

And many other places. If you ever visit there don't forget to eat a Philly Cheese Steak.
 

asp3 said:
A brief history of San Jose is that there were various indigenous people living in the area. The Spanish came and built missions in the area and subjugated the indigenous people. In 1848 a couple of hundred miles from here gold was discovered and the same year Mexico ceded California to the US. Lots of people moved to the area for gold and other reasons. The Santa Clara valley (where San Jose is located) became a major source of fruits because of all of the orchards in the areas. In 1937 a couple of guys named Hewlett and Packard started an electronics firm in a garage in Palo Alto (about 15 miles north of San Jose), were very successful and encouraged others to start companies. The orchards gradually and then rapidly disappeared giving way to many major hardware and software companies. San Jose is the 10th most populous city in the US.
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One thing that always bothered me about that area is the fact that the top soil was 15 to 17 feet deep where those orchards were destroyed. Meanwhile those hills overlooking that valley were unsuitable for growing anything. We humans rarely think too far ahead.
 
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Certainly not my backyard where I was born in Nagano, Japan as Hiroshima was 9 hours away and Nagasaki was 13 hours away, but that was where the Atomic bombs were drop. I was also only a few months old at the time this happened.
 
Pecos said:
One thing that always bothered me about that area is the fact that the top soil was 15 to 17 feet deep where those orchards were destroyed. Meanwhile those largely hill overlooking that valley were unsuitable for growing anything. We humans rarely think too far ahead.
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I agree that we didn't do a good job making sure that the area remained sustainable by keeping enough agricultural land free near our cities here. However we do have the central valley 50 miles away which has great agricultural land as well. We just have to be concerned that the rising seas don't cause too much salination in that area so that crops can't be grown.

The hills around San Jose are fantastic for growing wine grapes. The 2nd place red wine that was part of the 1976 tasting where US wines were judged as being better than their French counterparts was grown in the hills above Cupertino (where Apple is located.) Ridge Winery still grows and produces great cabernet sauvignon there in the Monte Bello vineyard.

Also according to what I've heard the hills around San Jose were also great for growing redwood trees. Our house from the 1880s is built of mainly first growth redwood with only newer additions being non-redwood. I just wish they had kept more of the old growth forests intact.
 
Louisa County, VA
from Wiki
Prior to colonial settlement, the area comprising Louisa County was occupied by several indigenous peoples including the Tutelo, the Monacan, and the Manahoac peoples, who eventually fled to join the Cayuga Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) people in New York state under pressure from English settlers.

Louisa County was established in 1742 from Hanover County. The county is named for Princess Louise of Great Britain, youngest daughter of King George II, and wife of King Frederick V of Denmark. Patrick Henry lived for some time in Louisa County on Roundabout Creek in 1764. Henry was being mentored at that time by the Louisa County magnate Thomas Johnson the representative of Louisa County in the House of Burgesses. In 1765, Patrick Henry won his first election to represent Louisa County in the House of Burgesses. At the end of the eighteenth century and in the early nineteenth century, numerous free mixed-race families migrated together from here to Kentucky, where neighbors began to identify them as Melungeon.

The Virginia Central Railroad was completed through Louisa County in 1838–1840. During the Civil War, it was an important supply line for the Confederate armies. As a result, several significant cavalry actions took place in the county, particularly one fought at Trevilians in 1864.
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I live right up the road from Trevilians. Lots of history here. Guys find all sorts of Civil War relics. Some find Revolutionary War relics, but you gotta dig deep. I go to a church whose founder had his license to perform marriages signed by Patrick Henry. When we have Homecoming, the founder's descendants show up. They trace their lineage to the 1600s.

Being in one of the parts of the country that had slavery, many people openly acknowledge that they don't have to go back too far to discover that they're related to one another.
 
Well, not really "Historic," but down the street from me, Phil Hartman was murdered by his psycho wife (who was on Zoloft & other antidepressants at the time). She killed herself when police arrived.
A couple of miles away, neighbors complained about animals making noise from the Jackson family home; there were Giraffe's, Chimps, etc.
Sharon Tate's house was 6 miles away; we know what happened there in 1969.

The nearby city of "Tarzana" was named after Edgar Rice Burough's fictional character - Tarzan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarzana,_Los_Angeles
 
There is a lot of history here in the Finger Lakes area of western NY. This was all Indian territory at one time, and most of the towns and areas are derived from Indian names and terms.

Sullivan's Trail, as it's called around here, which is now NYS route 20A, is about 4 miles from me -- it is from Sullivan's campaign during the Revolutionary War era. There used to be a "Sullivan's Trail Motel" in the nearby town, but that area was ripped down 25-30 years ago and modernized.

And going through this same town (Honeoye) was the Underground Railroad.

The historic Pitts' Mansion is right on Main St. This was the family that Frederick Douglass married into.

There are a lot of local stories about slaves being transported through this area. One that I read about was between Naples (about 10 miles south) and Honeoye, where they were hidden below a false floor of horse-drawn wagons, that was then covered with hay or other stuff to not look suspicious.

Veering away from the above, they used to grow a lot of hops around here 100-200 years ago. A few hobby and small farmers are reviving that practice because of the spread of numerous local custom breweries.

And of course the Finger Lakes area is well-known for its wine.
 

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