by Lisa Robinson
Nestled at the southerly intersection of Grove and East Streets in Boulder Creek is a gem of a resort historically known as Redwood Rest. The resort lies on the land homesteaded to lumberman Joseph Wilburn Peery, the founder of the town of Lorenzo and amongst one of the earliest settlers in the area. It was on this land that Peery operated the Lorenzo Shingle and Planning Mill, and Tannery. When Peery died in 1912, his estate was divided up and in 1919 the lot was sold to Robert East who owned the land briefly, selling it just two years later to Otto Holm.
Otto bought the property for his parents John “Pop” and Katherine “Ma” Holm. In April 1924, the resort was formally opened. The opening was to be a dinner to be attended by the townsfolk and forty members of a San Francisco motorcycle club, but instead of forty, twice as many “rolled into the grove.” According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, “Everything went off just as though it was the usual thing for eighty-five to roll in unannounced and be fed.”
“Rest among the Redwoods” was the resort’s tag-line. It consisted of the beautiful grove of redwood chapels in which sleeping apartments had been constructed so that guests could literally sleep in the trees. And Ma Holm’s cooking was legendary. Half fried chicken in batter, Virginia baked ham with butter honey sauce, and home-made pastries, and at Thanksgiving, dinner “like your mother used to serve.”
Dance parties were held, cards were played, guests could enjoy swimming in the river, playing tennis, quoits, hiking, fishing, “and every amusement imaginable.” Jacob Krupp, Ma’s brother, operated a stable with a “string of saddle horses.”
There was a three storey tree house, pictured here. It was described as a “love nest.” In 1927, there were so many guests that some had to sleep in cots in the corridors, but they were glad to be put anywhere so long as they could stay with “Mother Holm.”
In the 1930s the resort was leased. At first the Holms remained at the resort, but in 1937 they left for an extended trip back East. In 1939, illness struck, and the Holms were forced to “sell at sacrifice.” At that time there was the main building or lodge, a lobby, and fourteen cabins.
Alice and Ernest Ward were the next owners of the resort, and it was they who constructed the $15,000 swimming pool in 1953.
In the 1970s the resort was known as the “Sequoia Villa Trailer Park.” It was renamed “Redwood Resort” in 1992 and today the secluded but highly popular RV park and campground is owned and operated by Joe Raley and Dan Dwight. www.redwoodresort.net