A place to collect and share info about Skyland and the larger Highland area.
Origin of the name Skyland?
The bigger area east of Summit has been called Highland and Skyland is considered part of it historically. Many articles use Highland to refer to the area. Some books have vague explanations why the area is called Skyland but no info where it came from or when it was established.
Skyland Rd was originally called Slaughter road and named after one of the settlers Colonel Thomas Slaughter who moved to the area in the late 1870ies. At that time the southern part of Skyland where his ranch was located and beyond was called Ocean View. He advertised his products under the name Ocean View Fruit Farm. Ocean View is still the name of the road going south from Miller Hill Rd just before the intersection with Skyland Rd.
Earliest mention of the name Skyland in the newspapers is in 1880 and from then on the name was adopted quickly and used to refer to the bigger area not just the town mentioned in the first article.
Santa Cruz Sentinel (Weekly), Volume 26, Number 5, page 3, 3 July 1880
The question on the mountains is: Which is the highest, Hyland or Skyland? If the people who go to Hyland or Skyland go heavenward all will be well with them.
……
The town of Skyland, located on the highest part of the Miller ranch, consisting of four acres, the same having been laid out in streets and lots 40×60 feet, is being bought up rapidly by the best people of Santa Clara Co., more particularly by the citizens of San Jose. Many of the purchasers and their friends are now camping there.
Santa Cruz Sentinel (Weekly), Volume 26, Number 7, 17 July 1880
The inhabitants of Skyland, comprising twelve families, are afflicted with the dysentery, and the physicians of Santa Cruz and San Jose can be heard shouting: Hurrah for the green apples!