As many of you know, the story of the Japanese internment camps intrigue me. So when we knew we were coming to Cody, the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center near Powell was on my list of things to do.
We started out with a film “All We Could Carry” that featured 12 former incarcerates sharing their experiences from life in Heart Mountain. Thought provoking!
The theater then goes right into the museum following a timeline from the start of the U.S. involvement in WWII thru to today. There were photographs, artifacts, oral histories, and interactive exhibits telling the life of Heart Mountain through the eyes of more than 14000 Japanese and Japanese Americans who were confined here during World War II.
This was a ticket given to each family – where they became a number instead of a person/family.
There were many videos from former detainees and many of them said that the main issue was lack of privacy. They shared a communal bathroom with no stalls.
When I used the restroom, this was on one of the doors, so I had to try it out – really strange. God bless them.
The also ate in a communal dining room which hurt the family unit. Can you imagine living like this?
This just blew me away:
They have done a wonderful job on this museum. You can really get a feel for how the people lived here.
More information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Mountain_War_Relocation_Center
http://www.javadc.org/heart_mountain_relocation_center.htm
From there we went up the hill to the memorial and walking path:
This was the area of the gates and guard towers:
The farming areas:
The camp areas:
The concrete building in the center was part of the school complex:
WOW! Very thought provoking!
This is the second interment camp area that we have visited. The other is Poston in Arizona and can be found here:
http://postoncamp.blogspot.com/
My pictures can be found here:
http://postoninpictures.blogspot.com/p/today.html
After we left there, we stopped at the Corbett Dam area and had lunch by the river:
Heart Mountain from the dam area:
Back home, I dropped Andy off and headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. We relaxed the rest of the evening.
We will probably take a day off of sightseeing tomorrow – we are getting touristed out – LOL!
Enjoy today.
4 comments:
There is a very interesting camp near Lone Pine, CA. The Alabama Hills (where many movies and old cowboy shows were filmed are worth visiting while you are there too.
We visited the camp a few years ago, right after they opened. Hard to believe we could do that to our own people, isn't it? The phrase "when democracy failed" was so appropriate. We enjoyed reliving our visit through your pictures - thanks!
Jan, Thanks for the info. We are heading to Missoula and I think there was a place there too.
DNPC. I have such mixed feelings about this whole thing - but it is so scary that it is possible we will do it again. Thanks.
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