Manzanar National Historic Site

This morning we drove from Furnace Creek through the park to Lone Pine, California.  We stopped for lunch at Mt. Whitney Restaurant.  Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain in California and can be seen as you drive north from Death Valley to Lone Pine.  After lunch we drove the ten more miles to Manzanar National Historic Site.  In 1977 we were in this part of California driving on State Highway 395 for Yosemite National Park.  We passed through Lone Pine and saw a sign for Manzanar.  At this time we weren't sure what Manzanar was.  Through the years we have read and learned about it and when we planned this trip, we made sure to set aside time to visit Manzanar.

As we drove west through the park, we saw these sand dunes.  This is the third set of sand dunes we have seen this trip.

As we drove out of the park toward Lone Pine, we began to see mountains in the distance.  One of these mountains is Mt. Whitney which is the highest mountain in California.

One of the guard towers at Manzanar.

Manazar is an interment camp for Japanese civilians.  Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there was great fear and anger for the Japanese.  There were 10 interment camps and this one housed 11,070 men, women and children from 1942-1945.  The Visitor's Center had exhibits which explained the process of interment and how the people lived day by day.   During this period, 591 babies were born and 150 people died.  Some of those interned there even joined the Army.  The people made the best of their situation and even improved things as they could.  It was another sad time in this country's history.

The Visitor's Center is housed in one of the original buildings of Manzanar.  

There were ten  Japanese interment camps in the U.S.  These flags list those ten camps.

This is a reproduction of a room where a family was housed.  The chair was made by the Japanese out of packing crates.  

When the families were rounded up and transported to the camps, they were allowed to bring one suitcase with them.  The camp had a lending library of toys.  The children could check out the toys for a time and then return theme to the library.  These are examples of the toys that were a part of the library.

What a typical dorm room looked like.

This monument was built in 1942 to honor those who died in the camp.   After the war, many of those buried there were removed and reburied

These two sentry buildings are original.  They are at the original entrance to the camp. 

It was not called an internment camp but a "relocation center."

We ate lunch at Mt. Whitney Restaurant. I had one of their burgers and it was very good..

Views on the return trip.

We left Manzanar about 3:00 p.m. and made it back to the campground in two hours.  It was so pleasant outside that we sat outside and watched the moon rise over the mountain in the east.  It is almost a full moon.  The evening was comfortable, no bugs to bother us.  Finally came in at 7:00 when it was too dark to enjoy being outside.  Tomorrow we will stay in the park and explore some of the side roads.   The high temperature on the gauge in the car ranged from 92 to 63 depending on the altitude.  Sometimes were were at sea level and other times five and six thousand feet above sea level.  Tomorrow we will see the lowest elevation in North America among other things.