One of the reasons that I really like California is that all of the history here is recent. Most of the state was settled in the 1850s (making these our grandparents' parents) so a lot of it still exists. And since California is also a mostly desert and high plains state, there are a lot of huge scale public works projects (read: boon-doggles) that stagger the imagination.
For example, Kelly and I have drinks over at a bar that is one block away from the western most Pony Express station. I am also near Folsom Dam and Folsom Prison.
Some of the history is even closer. My picture today shows the Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery. When the federal govt decided to dam the American River (around 1954) to provide water for Sacramento and San Francisco, they had to flood under several towns. One of these towns was Mormon Island (probably founded by Mormons who didn't stop in Utah). Before they did, they moved the local cemetery out of the flood zone.
This has been relocated south of the lake, just beyond the Llama pasture that I post a lot of picture from. I went down there on Saturday to look around. Very interesting: Most of the people weren't Mormon but Jewish and there were some new burials (probably wives and husbands).
If you look closely through the cemetery gateway, you can see a large house of the hill in the distance. That house is across the street from me.
1 comment:
You mean your great-grandparents' parents - your grandparents' parents were born in the 1880s.
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