Lottie's Photos: Big Basin State Park, 1939

Warden's Office in Big Basin State Park, California

Mom visited Big Basin State Park at least twice. On August 4, 1936 when she was sixteen, she wrote, “Bob Smith, Ellen, Dorothy, Aggie and I hitch-hiked to Brookdale and then back with a bunch of fellows. They came back about 1:00 and took us to Santa Cruz and then Big Basin. Dorothy, Bob and I rode in the turtleback, Aggie, Ellen and two fellows in front. Had a lot of fun. Got home 2 AM. Bob necks terrible.” So, what’s a “Turtleback”? Google shows a photo of a bright yellow 1936 Plymouth Turtleback sedan. Looks like a car with a spacious backseat – ideal for necking. Dorothy and Aggie were two of Mom’s Menge cousins. In 1936 Mom spent a lot of time at her Uncle Henry and Aunt Mae’s cabin in Ben Lomand. This would have been before her father bought their cabin in neighboring Brookdale.

She also spent the 4^th of July at Big Basin in 1939 and that is when she would have taken this photograph. She and Dad, Bert and Marge, Dad’s parents, Mom’s parents and Marge’s parents all spent the day together which she wrote was very cold. Mom, Dad, Bert and Marge hiked to the Green Caves “but we were very disappointed. We played horse shoes and ball. Got home at 7:30. Then Ed and I went to Alameda and watched fireworks from Treasure Island.”

The building in this photograph and all the other structures in Big Basin State Park – California’s second oldest park – were destroyed in August of 2020 during one of the dozens of lightning-caused fires. Today, as I write this story, is the eeriest day I’ve experienced in my lifetime in California because smoke from these fires is blocking the sunlight and has turned day to night. Looking out our windows all I see is an unearthly orange glow.