 Last Restoration |
Sacramento, CA → Folsom, CA → Sacramento, CA 67.6 mi (108.8 km) |
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Thieves have struck again, everyone!
It’s been a big year for plaque theft, folks! Fiddletown has fizzled out! Site of First County Free Library Branch in California has been checked out and not returned! Oh, and an arsonist burned the Bidwell Mansion to the ground! As a lover of history, I want to share this amazing program with others, but it turns out, mapping history is useful for both adventurers and criminals. It’s really depressing! But then, back on August 19th, 2024, I got a very unexpected email from James King, past grand president of the Native Sons of the Golden West!
NSGW has been contacted by a Parlor of the Native Daughters about replacing the now missing Prairie City plaque.[…]Once we get the ball rolling, and costs locked down, I will put in a grant request with our Historical Preservation Foundation (HPF) for assistance with funding.
This is where we come to you to take the lead. What’s next?
What’s next? Oh my gosh, two of California’s oldest and most esteemed historical societies were asking me what’s next in replacing the stolen plaque for Landmark 464, Prairie City? Oh my gosh, I was star-struck, but I got right to work. Both organizations wanted to preserve the original sponsors on the plaque, which could have crowded out history with sponsorship, so, I asked William Burg at the State Office of Historic Preservation for a digital copy of the landmark’s original nomination to review. A full year-and-a-half of ping-pong emails followed, making sure any changes matched the original nomination while working to keep the amount of history on the plaque higher than the amount of sponsorships! At times, it was hard to say who was leading the project, and some folks even dropped out after the state pointed out some changes could not be made! But it all worked out. Once we all agreed on a new plaque text, the Native Sons and Daughters split the bill with the California Landmark Foundation, and sent the text to California Bell for casting. We aimed to put it back in stone on December 13, 2025!
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On the day, I got up super early and flew from Burbank to Sacramento, where I met up with Ray and Tang from the California Landmark Foundation, practicing speeches. While the Black Cat was the biggest plaque dedication any of us had ever been to, Prairie City was going to be the most official and organized! Barbara Leary of the Folsom City Council had assembled local dignitaries and printed programs to hand out to everyone in attendance on this chilly morning! Audio equipment was ready to go, and a music stand was set up for reading speeches! Both Grand President Heidi Dillon of the Native Daughters and Grand President Gary Padgett of the Native Sons were in attendance, all of the Sons sporting full, official regalia! Plus, the new plaque was draped in not just any bear flag, but a copy of the original 1846 bear flag!
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After speeches from Councilwoman Leary and my pal, Ray, the Native Sons called to order a special session, then pulled off an elaborate dedication ceremony. Laying out a tray of masonry supplies, they proclaimed that they had brought sand from all over California to represent its natural beauty, cement from all of the historic mills from Riverside to Redwood City to symbolize how humans have transformed California’s landscape, and water from each of the Spanish missions to symbolize patriotism and loyalty. Combining these ingredients, they added this ceremonial cement to the top of the plaque!
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And then voilá! The new plaque was officially rededicated! As you can see, balancing historic text with sponsorships was a challenge, but I think we pulled it off. The important thing is, this site has a story again! And now that it’s being told in aluminum like our other replacements, it has zero resale value and should discourage metal thieves! Part of me is intimidated by the idea that all state plaques may one day have to be replaced by aluminum or granite, but with collaborations like this one, keeping history alive in the places where it happened just might be a possibility!
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After the ceremony, Councilwoman Leary hosted a refreshment hour over at the Hampton Inn with a few of the Native Sons and Daughters. Apart from some general complaints about the difficulties of the landmark program at large, we told lots of stories and made plans for tackling more missing landmarks in the coming year. I even got invited to join the Native Sons, who have loosened their membership standards to admit folks born outside California, and taken steps to repair the scandalous deeds of past members! Should I do it? I considered it while munching five of the delicious cookies laid out on the table. In the meantime, I’ll have to make a list of missing plaques that were originally placed by either of their organizations. It turns out, both allocate funds for maintaining those plaques each year! It’s just a matter of handling logistics, or as Mr. King put it, what’s next?
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What’s next indeed? Ray says he’s been contacted by the property owner of the Stone Corral, who wants to collaborate. I also think re-plaquing the boulder on Green Valley Road, once commemorating four landmark sites, would be a great win. I’m also kicking around the idea of adding another new landmark to the list, now that the Three Princes’ Surf Site in Santa Cruz was just approved as Landmark 1065! With the end of my national park quest looming, I still think I have a few plaques left in me!
Keep on plaquin’!
Last Restoration |
Total Ground Covered: 67.6 mi (108.8 km) |
More 2025 Adventures |