By Kevin Newhouse
One of the many wonderful cemeteries in Santa Cruz County is located directly across the street from the Aptos Library on Soquel Drive. It is called Our Lady of Mount Carmel and is home to some of our town’s earliest pioneers, a hall of fame baseball player, and the bones of local Native Americans that had to be relocated from their original burial ground when Claus Spreckels built his famous Aptos Hotel in 1870s.
The history of Our Lady of Mount Carmel dates back to 1868, when Rafael Castro donated two acres of land to the archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church so that a chapel and cemetery could be built in Aptos. Prior to this, most services were held in private homes.
On November 17, 1874, Reverend Joaquin Adam gave the first mass in the new chapel even though the inside was still not completely built or furnished. If fact, it wouldn’t be completed until October 1875. The cemetery wouldn’t see it’s first internment until September 14, 1875, when five-month old Josefa Arano would be laid to rest.
The following year, Cypress trees were planted around the cemetery and down the Santa Cruz Watsonville Road, (Soquel Drive). Many of these trees still exist on the far side of the cemetery.
The church was torn down in 1935 after years of vandalism and deterioration. The site where the original church stood was eventually replaced with additional burial plots. Today, there are nearly 200 graves in the cemetery.
There are a few plots in particular that I would recommend viewing while visiting Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
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Rafael and Soledad Castro
This was the first private ownership of land in our community. Rafael was a man who clung to Californio tradition and refused to speak or even learn the English language. He was a very smart man but had very little confidence in mankind. His house was robbed at least three times and because he didn’t understand English, he was swindled on more than one occasion.
When Rafael was 20 years old, he married 15-year-old Soledad Cota at the Santa Cruz Mission. Their marriage was not an easy one. Three times they had filed for divorce, which was very rare in those days, but never did they complete the process. Together they raised 12 children, one of them being an adopted daughter, and their grandchildren numbered more than 40. Soledad Castro was always kind to the poor and was noted for her hospitality.
Rafael passed away at the age of 74 on May 14, 1878. Soledad passed away at the age of 83 on April 15, 1889. Soledad died in the Bay View Hotel where she had been living while being cared for by her daughter, Augustia Arano, and her granddaughter Amelia Arano. Rafael and Soledad are buried next to each other and a 12-foot high monument marks the Castro Family plot.
Joseph and Augustia Arano
Joseph Arano was born in France in 1837 and emigrated to Cuba, then New Orleans, and eventually ended up in Aptos. He built a general store on a piece of land purchased from Rafael Castro. By 1870, he was married to Rafael Castro’s daughter, Augustia. The profits from operating their general store would be used to open The Anchor House, which would later be known as The Bay View Hotel. Joseph prospered as the hotel’s bartender and bookkeeper.
Things were going well for the Arano family until one day in 1892, for reasons unknown, Joseph disappeared with $3,000 proceeds of a land sale. He would remain missing until November 1900, when his daughter, Amelia, tracked him down in Ventura. He eventually returned to Aptos where he worked at the hotel until his death in 1928.
Unfortunately, Augustia would not live long enough to see her husband return. She died in February 1896 at the age of 52 in the Bay View Hotel while Joseph’s whereabouts were still unknown. While their bodies were laid to rest in the cemetery, it is rumored that their spirits live on in the hotel, welcoming each new generation of guests.
Harry Hooper
Harry Hooper is without a doubt the most famous resident of the cemetery. He played major league baseball between 1909 and 1925 for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. Hooper, a one-time teammate of Babe Ruth, was part of 4 different World Series champion teams (1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918), all with the Boston Red Sox. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971.
After retiring from baseball, Hooper moved to Capitola where he was appointed postmaster in 1933. He held that position for 24 years. Hooper was well liked and respected in the community and played an important role in Capitola’s development during the mid 1900s. Hooper passed away on December 18, 1974 and was laid to rest in Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
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