Aromastory : the overlooked history of an underdog town
(Reference, Book)

All photos credited to the Aromas Library are courtesy of The Albert and Alzora Snyder Collection and the Monterey County Free Libraraies, Aromas Branch, Aromas, California.

AROMASTORY is the tale of a small California town, situated on the meeting points of three counties, nestled in a valley between two scenic mountain ranges, just beyond the outer edge of the San Francisco Bay Area. Despite the rampant growth and expansion of the urban regions that surround it, Aromas has somehow gone relatively unnoticed and unchanged for decades. AROMASTORY explores the economic opportunities that originally brought settlers to the town--namely agriculture and mining. But the book also takes a wider view, examining how outside forces that have shaped California and U.S. history--war, immigration, social change, rapid growth, and natural resource use--were experienced in Aromas. AROMASTORY preserves the stories, the memories, and the perspectives of it's people, many of whom lived in Aromas their entire lives. And in doing so, it reveals the values and bonds that have kept the town a livable, unspoiled community where people are passionately committed to the hard work of protecting the best life California has to offer.