OAKHURST – The Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau will host local author Marcia Penner Freedman, who will share stories from her newly-published Willow Creek History: Tales of Cow Camps, Shake Makers & Basket Weavers.
Freedman will be at the visitors center from 2 to 3:30 pm on Saturday, July 20. There will be copies of her book for sale, and she will autograph copies for visitors as well.
Freedman, who was born and raised in the New York Metropolitan Area and later became a resident of Los Angeles, has been a lifelong hiker, backpacker and camper. In 1999, she relocated to Oakhurst, south of Yosemite National Park, where she discovered Willow Creek. Following that initial encounter and many more to follow, Willow Creek became her focus, an obsession her friends might say.
After years of editing newsletters and immersing herself in other people’s interests, she decided it was time to write about something that captivated her–Willow Creek and its history.
For 150 years, Willow Creek has been at the center of economic and cultural development in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It’s the same Willow Creek that flows into Bass Lake, moves through five powerhouses and generates twenty-seven kilowatts of electricity for California. The same Willow Creek rises to 8,000 in the Sierra National Forest, crashes through narrow granite canyons and meanders through serene mountain passes on the way to its confluence with the San Joaquin River. Logging railroads have carried loads alongside and over Willow Creek. Native tribes made their homes along its banks.
Freedman received a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Southern California and currently teaches psychology part-time at a local community college.
