Y L lSh National Native American Heritage Month at Peña Adobe
VACAVILLE - On a recent visit to Peña Adobe Park, Marge Grow-Eppard, a Miwok/Me-Wuk Tribal Elder of California, fondly talked about working as a teenager at the Peña Adobe Park with caretaker, Cliff Bisbee in the mid 1960’s. Grow-Eppard, whose Indian name, Sister Who Walks With Bears, is the Director of the American Indian Movement Foothills Central California Chapter. She was joined by Dr. John Pryor of CSU-Fresno and AIM members, who toured the grounds of Peña Adobe. Professor Pryor led a discussion of the Native American artifacts displayed in the Mowers-Goheen Museum adjacent to the Peña Adobe.
Grow-Eppard is also a Board of Trustee @ DQ University in Davis CA. DQ University offers a wide variety of Native American extracurricular activities; ranging from music lessons, team sports, to art classes. Holly Cardoza from DQU joined the tour, as did Melissa Mendoza from 7 Generations Intertribal Council. Several Certified Cultural Resource Monitors were also in attendance and listened to Marge’s talk about Jim Big Bear King. Big Bear was active in the establishment of the Suscol Inter-Tribal Council, whose mission it is to develop and maintain a Native American cultural center as well preserve and protect Native American sacred sites and traditions. He spent countless hours speaking not only at Peña Adobe but at schools and colleges throughout Northern California before passing away in November 2007.
In the summer of 1975, Big Bear set out on a journey to the State Capitol, walking from Napa with an Indian protest symbol. The symbol was a cross to symbolize his people’s burden. He walked 58 miles carrying his cross with a copy of “Kappler’s Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties” bound to it. Big Bear reached the Capitol to meet with Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. on July 5, 1975.
Big Bear then took his cross to the Peña Adobe Park, where he often spoke to visitors and campers during the summer. He made Native American glyphs telling the story of his pilgrimage on the arms of the cross and placed the number 389 on the top of the post (389 represents the number of treaties with tribes and the U.S. Congress). He raised the cross on the small knoll beside the duck pond. Over time, Big Bear’s cross was damaged and removed to storage. Peña Adobe Historical Society docent, Armando Perez whose family is Chiricahua Apache, discovered the cross earlier this year while working in the Adobe storage area. Grow-Eppard spoke of Big Bear and his many stories he shared and was happy to share with the group the story of his journey to the State Capital.
The afternoon visit ended with Sky Road Webb of Davis, a descendant of the Tomales Bay Miwok and a board of director for “ACORN” (All California Oratory Resource Network), a non-profit dedicated to supporting native language revitalization. He is a storyteller and keeper of native music and language who has composed and performed original Miwok songs with many organizations. As the tour came to a close, he performed songs and invited docent James Tunstall to join in. James, whose father is from the Yaqui tribe has been a docent with the Peña Adobe Historical Society since 2019.
This November, as we reflect on National Native American Heritage Month, we look forward to this knowledgeable group returning to Peña Adobe and sharing the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans who lived here years ago.