The Guard Shack at the Entrance to Manzanar
(To learn more about Manzanar click here)
I have always loved to stop at Manzanar when driving up the 395 through Owens Valley. When we first started stopping it was thick with a forest of trees. We would stop and it would provide some shade for a nice picnic. Walking around the area was like being on a treasure hunt. There was remnants of life and peoples homes. There was not much but hidden among the landscape was rock work of a time long past. With my interest peaked on day we stopped in Independence at the museum there and I got my first taste of what a Relocation Center was. I bought a book written by a girl who grew to age in the camp. I was shocked at the life they endured. It has been many years since our picnic days. They now are trying to breathe new life into Manzanar. The forest of trees have been cut down and they are trying to restore the place back to what it was in the 1940′s. It is now a museum and they are preserving the history of what really happened there. We must never forget.
A Monument in the Graveyard
You’re correct – we should never forget. Beautiful scenery.
By: gpcox on January 5, 2013
at 10:46 am
Very impressed that they’re restoring this place to its original state – so important to remember what people went through here.
By: Animalcouriers on January 5, 2013
at 10:56 am
I hope your plan is to update us occasionally about what is happening at Manzanar. My father spent quite a bit of time at Santa Anita, CA, a camp that had been a relocation center before the Army took it over. I doubt there is much left on that site.
By: Judith (Guion) Hardy on January 5, 2013
at 12:01 pm
I have been going to Santa Anita for quite awhile and did not know about the relocation center they until I started on this journey. I did find a newspaper clipping in my grandmother’s letters about their being German Prisoners there. Here is a link to that post.
http://wp.me/p2eEip-PM
By: notsofancynancy on January 5, 2013
at 2:22 pm
We visited Manzanar when traveling the Sierras. Wish there was more of the original relocation camp there but the musuem was very well done, and we should never forgot what life was like for those sent here.
By: LuAnn on January 5, 2013
at 2:11 pm
It has come a long way since I first started going there. Back then there was nothing there but an overgrown forest with hidden rock work. So to me it has come a long way.
By: notsofancynancy on January 5, 2013
at 2:24 pm
If that was how it once was, then yes, it has come a long way. We thoroughly enjoyed the museum and the cemetery.
By: LuAnn on January 5, 2013
at 2:30 pm
I know the book and I think I read it. It is certainly not a proud moment in American History.
With that being said, the nature is certainly beautiful there.
By: memyselfandkids on January 5, 2013
at 8:21 pm
It does have beautiful views. The book was certainly eye opening.
By: notsofancynancy on January 6, 2013
at 8:01 am
They have fixed the place up recently. It used to be so neglected. Gorgeous Mountain photos!
By: cindy knoke on January 5, 2013
at 8:31 pm
A man by the name of Toyo Miyatake took secret photos behind the barbed wire while imprisoned there. His grandson Alan Miyatake will be shooting my daughter’s wedding photos next Sunday.
By: Mustang.Koji on January 5, 2013
at 9:24 pm
First of all congrats on the wedding. What awesome trivia about Mr. Miyatake and neat how the son will be taking the pictures.
Also wanted to thank you for identifying things in Dad’s Pictures! You are certainly a gem Mustang Koji!
By: notsofancynancy on January 6, 2013
at 8:05 am
You are too, kiddo! The letters are just fantastic…
By: Mustang.Koji on January 6, 2013
at 9:55 pm
Interesting Nancy, thanks for posting. Why have they cut down the forests?
By: Boomdeeadda on January 6, 2013
at 12:05 am
The place was overgrown with trees that were probably not there when the camp was operating. They hid a lot of secrets and secret places among the camp. One of my favorite was a koi pond lined with rock work. The first time I found the pond I could feel what a sacred place it was. Every time after I always took time to visit the waterless pond.
By: notsofancynancy on January 6, 2013
at 8:10 am
Sounds like it’s really made an impact on you, thanks for the followup. There was also a camp like this in Banff Alberta during and shortly after WWI, up until 1920 Ukrainian immigrants were rounded up, their meager belongings confiscated and put to work…we have tracked back to a past relation there….very sad indeed…they were labeled as “enemy aliens” and had to report to the police even after release.
By: Boomdeeadda on January 6, 2013
at 9:16 am
Those are such moving photographs. There is nothing there now, but so much in memory.
By: headywriting19 on January 6, 2013
at 7:47 am
You can feel what a scared place it is. When we use to go I felt like I should talk in whispers. That was before I knew the history. Now I stop to pay my respects to those who’s lives were changed by the place.
By: notsofancynancy on January 6, 2013
at 8:13 am
I’ve nominated you for the Blog on Fire Award! Congrats =) I hope you accept. You can check out the nomination here: http://pennilesstraveler.com/2013/01/06/kreativbloggerblogonfire/
By: rachelynne on January 6, 2013
at 11:11 am
Thank you so much I am honored!
By: notsofancynancy on January 6, 2013
at 2:02 pm