A deep dive into one of the Santa Cruz Mountains' most fascinating characters leads us to the groundbreaking life of Josephine McCracken.
At the turn of the 19th century, McCracken became an indispensible voice for redwood preservation. Her activism inspired the women's network essential for the successful 1901 campaign to create Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
Her journalist friend, Lousie Jones, became a founder of the Sempervirens Club. McCracken also mentored key women in the movie industry: Mary Pickford, Zasu Pitts and the groundbreaking producer Beatriz Michelena.
In addition, she was a leading figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary scene. She authored a collection titled the Overland Tales and was a close friend and contemporary of such luminaries as Bret Harte, Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce.
Historians tell the story of how one woman overcame major obstacles, including escaping a homicidal husband in Texas and losing her Santa Cruz Mountains home to fire, to become a full-time journalist and advocate for women at a time when neither was commonplace.