A new outdoor mural that depicts a slice of Santa Cruz County history now adorns a wall of El Vaquero Winery in Corralitos. Watsonville artist Erika Rosendale said she took on the job of painting Charley Parkhurst (1812-1879), known as One-Eyed Charley, who drove a stagecoach mail delivery route between Watsonville and Santa Cruz.
The colorful work mural depicts Parkhurst in a western hat atop a stagecoach over a rugged mountain terrain with the Monterey Bay, rolling hills and a soaring condor.
“I think it’s coming together pretty well,” Rosendale said as she finished the project last week. “It’s definitely in a high-visibility place.” Rosendale has painted scores of murals around the Monterey Bay and has now completed murals in several European countries.
The week-long project was sponsored by the Freedom Rotary Club. The 45-by-17-foot mural stands at 2601 Freedom Blvd., at the corner of Corralitos Road across from the Five Mile House, which was once a key stop on Parkhurst’s mail route.
Parkhurst became a legend around the Monterey Bay. History books tell of the surprise many had, upon Parkhurst’s death, to learn that the stagecoach driver had been born female. A tombstone stands at Pioneer Cemetery in Watsonville. In 2007, a dilapidated trailer park on Freedom Boulevard in Aptos was transformed into Parkhurst Terrace, a modern affordable housing community for 68 families.
Rosendale claimed the Gold award in the National Mural Awards for her sprawling mural titled “Beneficial insects starting their day,” at Planet Fitness in Sacramento.
