Santa Cruz County Place Name: Woods Lagoon (June 13, 2026)
The lagoon that today forms the base for the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor. The lagoon was a favorite picnic spot, swimming hole, and duck hunting area during the 1880s and 1890s. Named for the landowner, John Woods, whose property abutted the lagoon. Volume One of the Santa Cruz County Books of Deeds includes a petition, November 14, 1849, by John Woods for this land. Woods, a charter member of the Santa Cruz County Society of California Pioneers, was born in Georgetown, Ohio, on December 30, 1818; he migrated to Missouri, served in the Mexican war, back to Missouri, married, then left for California on April 20, 1848. After a very short period in the mines, he settled in Santa Cruz county, worked at the Bennett Sawmill on Love Creek, but settled shortly thereafter in the area now known as Seabright in Santa Cruz. Woods died October 11, 1887. See also Lake Marina and Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor.
Woods Lagoon (the original name for what is now the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor) has left its imprint on Santa Cruz all over the place, as a quick Internet search will reveal. Many of the standard local history resources I depend on reference it. The Santa Cruz History Wiki has entries for both Woods Lagoon, and John Woods (pictured on the right). The Santa Cruz Public Library history site (another great resource for local history) has a photograph of it from the late 1800s. Finally, Santa Cruz Trains (a unique and wonderful local resources) has an extensive entry on the various bridges that have run through/over it.
In addition, Ross Eric Gibson wrote an extensive article on the history of the Woods family and their namesake Lagoon for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, “Pilot Woods and his namesake lagoon” on February 1st of 2026 [may or may not be paywalled]. Woods’ descendants still live in the area and many of them were present at the 2001 dedication of a historical plaque at the Santa Cruz Harbor as per the caption on a photo in that article.
Along with Researchers Anonymous which has both a web site and a Facebook page, as well as an in person monthly meeting, the sites referenced in this piece offer the reader a rich variety of resources for digging up details of local history online.
Tags: columns, place-names, bratton-online, writing