Sustainable Heritage Management Strategies at the Nate Harrison Site

Summary

To provide the Nate Harrison Historical Archaeology Project with a sustainable plan for community outreach, even post-excavation, this paper discusses local, related museums and their viability in a time of low attendance and budget-related struggles. It addresses the justification for a museum at the Nate Harrison site on Palomar Mountain when so many similar entities have been devalued. If a museum is created, the design must transcend archaeological finds from a single historical figure and employ a broader approach that cultivates interest in local history. While technological innovations are important draws, the project must stay true to its goals: transformative experiences, collaboration with multiple stakeholders, and long-term sustainability. These ideas sound ambitious in the current political climate, but hundreds of tourists visited the Nate Harrison site a century ago; however, he was still alive and actively promoting the mountain experience and importance of the region’s legendary past through entertaining anachronisms.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• "Born a Slave, Died a Pioneer": Nate Harrison and the Historical Archaeology of Legend

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 175