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VIDEO. Please enjoy this free webinar recording, as Coastside Land Trust welcomes acclaimed archaeologist, Mark Hylkema, to share the fascinating history of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Franklin Point. Hylkema has shared the following abstract for this talk…
On the evening of January 17th, 1865, while the American Civil War was still reaching towards a conclusion, the crew of the clipper ship Sir John Franklin found themselves enveloped in thick fog as they approached the Port of San Francisco. However, tragedy would intervene, just as it had for the ship’s namesake- a reference to the ill-fated arctic explorers of the Franklin Expedition, for the ship and crew were destined to wreck just as they had. Compounding this tragedy, two other sailing ships would wreck in just a few more years with a significant loss of life. Many of the victims were buried on the small, windswept headland now known as Franklin Point. Ultimately, these three shipwrecks spurred the installation of Pigeon Point Lighthouse. This presentation will review aspects of San Mateo County maritime history and describe the archaeology, history, and stabilization of the Franklin Point Historic Shipwreck Cemetery.
You can visit the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, per Mark Hylkema’s recommendation, to learn more about the region’s diverse human, animal and plant communities – from the shoreline of Monterey Bay to the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Check it out at: https://www.santacruzmuseum.org
As Hylkema also referenced, the California Department of Parks and Recreation has published a breadth of investigations/ management reports of California’s most important cultural heritage sites for over 50 years. You can check these out here: https://www.parks.ca.gov/29395
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