YETTEM: A Cursory Overview (Album)

Prepared by Rev. Garabed Kalfayan

East of Yettem - Gilroy station, between the tracks of the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads, lies an area of ten square miles which became the place where the patriarchs of Yettem settled; the northern boundary was called Church Hill and the southern Stone Corral.

When the Armenians settled here the government wanted them to name the new settlement. Accordingly, they chose three names: Ararat, Giligia (Cilicia), and Yettem and sent these choices to the authorities who chose the last, YETTEM (Eden, Earthly Paradise).

(Armenian 1947, English 2014)