Mayo Hayes O’Donnell Library
155 Van Buren St., Monterey
747-1027, www.mhod.weebly.com
You don’t need to believe in God to feel like you’re having a religious awakening while perusing this historic archive, with some 2,500 books and thousands of historic photographs. It’s a non-circulating library, meaning you can’t sign out materials, but that’s no problem: Just hang out for a few hours where the congregation of St. James Episcopal Church worshipped from 1876 to 1956, when they outgrew their space and relocated. The old barn-red church rotated through various uses until 1969, when the city of Monterey sold it for $1 to the Monterey History and Art Association, which converted it into a library, starting with the private collection of Mayo Hayes O’Donnell, who earned the nickname “Mrs. History” during her lifetime.