Crews, volunteers shape Historical Park buildings
The Garcia house sat in a dilapidated state, each new day
withering a little more. Had it sat for another season, the house
would likely have been beyond repair.
But the San Benito County Historical Society took possession of
the house five years ago with the intention of restoring the
historical building, but was unable to do anything with it
immediately, because of limited manpower and resources.
Crews, volunteers shape Historical Park buildings
The Garcia house sat in a dilapidated state, each new day withering a little more. Had it sat for another season, the house would likely have been beyond repair.
But the San Benito County Historical Society took possession of the house five years ago with the intention of restoring the historical building, but was unable to do anything with it immediately, because of limited manpower and resources.
But the building was saved with the help of some unlikely carpenters – inmates from Soledad State Prison.
The house, built between 1907 and 1910, was originally constructed by a Portuguese immigrant farmer who is believed to have come from the Azores. He bought the property where the house was located off Sunnyslope Road where the San Benito County Water District offices are now located.
When the Historical Society took possession of the house, a missing roof was the least of its worries.
Since the house was moved to the Historical Park, located south of Hollister near Bolado Park, it sat waiting for a time when a new foundation could be put under it and a new roof could be installed.
Last week’s impending storm looked scary to Historical Park caretaker Bob Maillot.
“The house has been sitting for five years with no roof, … after another rainy season we’d probably have had to scrap it,” he said.
Since 2000 a group of workers has been toiling away at the San Benito County Historical Park building up and breaking down constructing and demolishing.
The Gabilan Conservation Crew associated with the Department of Forestry is a group of laborers from Soledad Penitentiary that has been helping the Historical Society with the park for the past fifteen years.
According to Janet Brians, a member of the Historical Society and liaison between the Gabilan crew and the Historical Society, the society got involved with the crew after then-members Dick Hill, Fred LaSelve and Jack O’Donnell traveled to Soledad to see about getting a conservation crew to help them with some projects they had been working on. “That was around 1990 or so, I think,” Bryans said.
The Historical Society knew that the inmates could be the perfect help with heavy projects, so Hill, O’Donnell and LaSelve volunteered to drive down to Solidad prison and talk to the fire captain about rendering their services.
At first, there was a question of what to do with the inmates. The volunteers put them to work helping with landscaping and constructing fences, but eventually they moved on to larger projects. They reconstructed an old cabin that was relocated from the north county.
She said often the conservation crews ask for money to assist with their services, but that since the Historical Society has an almost non-existent budget, the conservation crews have been kind in not asking for financial support.
Though one of the first projects they helped with was fully reconstructing one of the houses at the Historical Park. Today, the crews help with everything from landscaping and gardening to specific carpentry projects including installing the roof on the Garcia house.
Typically, crews help during the fire season intermittently, but not during the winter months, since, according to Brians, for a long time, the park didn’t have a permanent bridge over the San Benito River. That did not present a problem for Historical Park volunteers, since they could just cross the shallow river on foot, but for the conservation crews the rules are enforced and the rules state that inmates must remain near their vehicles.
San Benito County’s is one of the furthest parks they travel to in all three counties where the men are active.
According to Maillot, Gabilan Crew No. 5 is a specialty crew that has been working on the Garcia house for about three weeks. The crew works three days per week from 10 or 10:30 a.m. until about 3 p.m. and takes an hour for lunch.
Interestingly, the specialized crews have prior experience with construction. Some have even worked in related fields. “Two of these fellows have done roofing for years and one was a contractor,” Maillot said.
Not everyone is as skilled as the others. Maillot points out “Popeye” who has been doing roofing for years, but says that others on the crew might be less knowledgeable, but just as motivated. “They have the wherewithal and determination the rest of the workers have, but they’ll do less skilled work. Maybe they’ll be tearing out sheetrock, things like that.”
The crews consist of 17 inmates and usually one captain. The inmates are men who aren’t guilty of serious crimes and are “short timers” or close to being released.
Maillot says that as a crew, the men work well together, usually under the guidance of one of the guards and alongside some of the Historical Society volunteers.
“As a crew, I’ve found that they respect one another and work really well together; I guess that part comes from having to depend on each other for safety.”
Though the Historical Society volunteers work closely alongside the inmates, forging relationships with the inmates is strongly discouraged. Still, it happens.
“We get to know these guys pretty well, though we’re not really supposed to,” Maillot said. “And to see a wealth of skill that comes from men who are incarcerated, well, it’s a resource we couldn’t otherwise pay for.”
In a mere eight days, the conservation crew members have taken all the remaining bits of old roof that were still present, flattened out the area, installed a new roof, with gables. “This is just the eighth day, wow!” he said. “There’s a whole roof up there, with gables.”
The inmates take pride in their work too. They actually care about the service they’re providing, so that’s an added bonus.
Occasionally as they’re working on a project at the Historical Park they’ll find relics from the past. Maillot says that it’s nice when it happens, because they can see the joy in the men’s eyes. They appreciate the occasional glimpse into the past.
Maillot also says that he’s found that occasionally the captains will take time to give the inmates a historical lesson – tell them about a piece of equipment or a building that’s located at the Historical Park and the men can learn from.
And occasionally one of the former inmates will return to see how the park is coming along. “We had one inmate come back three weeks ago. He asked me if I remembered him and he said that he’d wanted to come back and see the work that they’d done,” Maillot said.
Maillot said that he encourages the inmates to come back and see where their part fits into the development of the park and to see how they’re doing as individuals. “It can’t be the easiest thing, coming from an institution back into the world again. It’s a shame more people don’t know about this, it’s their park too.”
