Speaker: Alexander D. Bevil

“When the Legend Gets in the Way of the Facts, Print the Legend.”

-Maxwell Scott, in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Or, Don’t Believe Everything Written on a Plaque

Partly as a retired California State Parks Historian, local historian/author, and recent recipient

of a Save Our Heritage Organisation [SOHO]’s People in Preservation Lifetime Legacy Award, I

thought I’d take on at least one more project: a series of articles that will highlight San Diego

County’s registered California Landmarks [CHLs].

Featured in SOHO’s eNews, the first was an introductory article about the landmark program,

its beginnings, and using the Adobe Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Old Town San

Diego as an example.

Subsequent articles will highlight other San Diego County CHLs by grouping them together

thematically. At least one plaque will be evaluated for its historical accuracy, which might

contribute to a better understanding of the times and motivations of those who nominated it.

While researching my second article on San Diego County’s Maritime-related CHLs, that’s

where I ran into my first major problem: What do I do if the information on the monument’s

plaque is egregiously wrong?

Using CHL No. 57—La Punta de Los Muertos [Dead Men’s Point]—as an example, I will explain

that the landmark’s historical significance, as the burial place for scurvy victims from Juan

Pantoja’s 1782 survey of San Diego Bay, is based on a nearly 70-year-old misinterpretation of

why Pantoja named the site. A misinterpretation that continued over a hundred years later

when the monument was erected near the southeast corner of West Harbor Drive and Pacific

Highway in 1954.

Despite subsequent historical investigations questioning the monument plaque’s accuracy, it

continues to misinterpret an actual event. So much so that, in a recent interview at the site last

September, a local television reporter asked me if the site was haunted? She seemed really

disappointed when I told her that, if it was, it wasn’t from anyone associated with this

monument; but maybe an earlier one sitting across the street.

My presentation seeks to separate fact from fiction.

Afterwards, I will lead a discussion as to what is to be done about the existing plaque’s

misinterpretation of the past?

For example, I was to volunteer to update the landmark nomination, and submit it to the

California Office of Historic Preservation, who would support me?

If the OHP does agree and updates the monument’s historical significance, what will be the

next phase?

More importantly, who would be responsible for producing, replacing, and installing a new

bronze plaque?

Or will San Diego’s historical community continue to ignore it and support the legend?