Relva - History

History

The area of Relva was prestine forest and unoccupied grasslands, virgin fields, where the first explorers discovered forest of laurel, azevinhos, gingeiras and cedros, interespered by uveiras da serra. The region, which extends to the border with Santa Clara and Feteiras, became a place where the pigs sent ashore by the first settlers congregated, and where many of nobles of Vila Franca do Campo hunted. Travelling by boat to the shore Santa Clara, these hunters would disembark and spend several days hunting for the semi-feral pigs, then returned to the settlements with their prizes. Slowly, the region began to be occupied by the first families, houses, fields and estates, developing the community of Ponta Delgada, and encroaching on the unspoiled lands to the west. Eventually, farmers began to graze their herds in the region where they encountered lands with thick grasses: relva, the Portuguese word for grass, as the region became known, was used to describe this place, because this settlers found plenty of this boa erva (Portuguese: good weed). The first settlers, where likely farmers and shepards, integrally linked to the land, although no records identify the peoples.

The locality of Relva became more of a reality as settlers concentrated around the estates of Martim Vaz, a celebrated nobleman and local receiver (who collected the rents from the local serfs). Vaz was relatively important, since his name was attached to improvements made to the local fountain (which was near the sea), an important landowner and for his construction of the first temple in the parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora das Neves. His role in the parish is reflected in the local toponymy: the church was once referred to as the Igreja do Contador da Relva (Portuguese: Church of the Receiver of Relva), the fountain that he repaired the Fonte do Contador and a local grotto, the Grota do Contador, who were named for Martim Vaz.