Most of the photographs in this exhibit are a gift from Barbara and Chuck Snell, who camped at Luffenholtz in 1950 during their honeymoon.

Other photographs, baskets and objects are from the Trinidad Museum Society collections.

Barbara wrote that the exhibit “brings back to me wonderful memories of my honeymoon day and nights at Luffenholtz Beach…surf fishing, collecting seaweed, Porphria, making and drying the patties on the big rock, and interacting with Mamie, Alice, and Minnie and other members of their family 75 years ago.  Good Grief!”

Yurok families had their own traditional camps near drying rocks, which they would return to year after year.  There was plenty of water for drinking and washing the fish from Luffenholtz Creek, abundant driftwood for campfires, and big rocks for drying the fish.  Some of the families used grass mats on the sand for drying.  Mamie Parton, Minnie Shafer, and Alice Spott were among the people with whom the Snells developed lifelong friendships as they became acquainted.  They helped to turn the drying fish and assisted with collecting and preserving food for the winter.  By September, it was not uncommon to have preserved four or five hundred pounds of dried fish.

1950 was nearing the end of the Fish Camp tradition.  By 1952-1953, fewer families camped, fished, and gathered at Luffenholtz Beach.

Other photographs, baskets, and objects are part of the Trinidad Museum Society Collections.