Amah Mutsun Native Garden at Villa Mira Monte
Native Garden Teaches Indigenous History
by Jordan Rosenfeld
Americans but people don ’ t know them .” She feels that putting in a native garden , with plants indigenous to the area that the Amah Mutsun actually used , “ was a way to expand the conversation .”
It can be challenging to teach children about history in a way that brings the past to life . But for Kathy Chavez Napoli , a Morgan Hill-based educator and community volunteer , and a Trustee for Gavilan Community College who was named Volunteer of the Year by the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce , history is exciting because it ’ s ever present . Napoli educates children in third through fifth grades , through her traveling trunk show , which brings the history of Native Americans to life , including their foods , houses , customs , traditions , language and their ultimate oppression . “ I remind the kids that the very land we walk upon was home to indigenous peoples who shaped Santa Clara County , and Morgan Hill as much , if not more than , the founder of our town , Hiram Morgan Hill .”
In addition to her show , Napoli was inspired by the Amah Mutsun Tribal band of Native Americans ’ Native Garden in San Juan Bautista , which honors their history in a tactile way . She jumped at a chance , in 2019 , to transform the rose garden at the Villa Mira Monte , which houses the Morgan Hill Historical Society , into a local Native Garden , as a device for teaching about the Native people who shaped this area and whose ancestors still live here today . The garden was funded from two EduGrow-Planting-to-Learn grants from the South Valley Fleurs Garden Club , and relied upon volunteers like Kathy Devine and Nikki Carpendale to source and plant the various plants .
Some of the plants include grasses , bushes and fruit that the Amah Mutsun used for food , medicine , basket weaving , hunting and fishing , such as gum plant , deer grass , soap plant , white sage , mugwort , and yarrow .
There are opportunities to teach with the garden at multiple levels , Napoli said . “ Even the words we use to describe the plants don ’ t tell the full story ,” Napoli pointed out . “ We have words that represent the Spanish , that represent the Native
“ The importance of the Native American presence is marginalized and made invisible because you never hear about them . We tend to focus on the founders of the town , but they didn ’ t play a big role in shaping this town ,” Napoli said . “ Native Americans have been living here the longest .”
In some of her presentations , Napoli will lay out a timeline that represents 10,000 years of human history . With masking tape she highlights 1000 year increments to show , “ graphically , and concretely ” how long the Native Americans have been here . “ If you do the calculations that Spanish explorers came around 1769 and you count up to 2023 , that ’ s only 250-some years over 10,000 . Native Americans have been here for between 12,000 and 15,000 years .”
When discussing history , Napoli feels strongly that the voices of all the people that have shaped the area must be included , such as the Amah Mutsun Native Americans , as well as Mexican , Japanese , Chinese and Filipino communities . “ We should be telling the whole history because these communities built this valley , and yet when you talk about the historical value , it ’ s lost ,” Napoli said .
24 SPRING 2023 gmhTODAY Magazine gmhtoday . com