A small crowd of officials and local residents gathered today to
wish Pinnacles National Monument a happy 100th birthday.
A small crowd of officials and local residents gathered today to wish Pinnacles National Monument a happy 100th birthday.
President Theodore Roosevelt officially declared Pinnacles a national monument on Jan. 16, 1908 to protect the area’s unique geological formations. Park Superintendent Eric Brunnemann said the monument has grown and changed in the past century, but he urged attendees to “think about why those people set aside this magnificent countryside for us today.”
Actors portraying Theodore and Edith Roosevelt were also on hand, dressed in period clothing and doing their best to stay in character by shouting, “Bully!”
“Teddy” also recited the same declaration the real Roosevelt used to dedicate Pinnacles a century ago.
All of the event’s speakers have plenty of praise for the park – Alec Arago, district director for Congressman Sam Farr, called it “a wonderful place” and “a time machine.” But Arago also noted that the creation of national parks and national monuments is often the result of struggle and conflict.
“A new park, a new forest represented change, and sometimes change is hard,” he said.
What makes Pinnacles different, Arago said, is that the monument was something for which local residents pushed.
“(It was) not a park that was dropped out of the sky from some place in the east or urban centers in the west,” he said. “The act of love by folks here locally has stayed.”
San Benito County Supervisor Reb Monaco, whose district includes the monument, said he has a long-lasting connection to Pinnacles. Monaco’s father was stationed at the monument during his time with the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and in the 1960s, Monaco himself came to the monument “almost every weekend” for rock climbing.
“We’d have glorious times here,” Monaco said.
It was during one of those trips to Pinnacles that Monaco, then a college student in San Jose, began thinking about finding a job in San Benito County.
Two former park superintendents, Jim Sleznick and Rod Broyles, also attended the ceremony. Broyles, who served at Pinnacles for 12 years beginning in 1974, said he was pleased to see all the new facilities. Funding has always been scarce, Broyles said. He recalled tearing down older buildings to reuse their nails.
“We think we have hard times now, but in the old days, it was really difficult,” he said.
View more photos of the celebration at Pinnacles in our
