Alcatraz Succs!

Read along to learn a brief history lesson of a unique California location where you would least expect to find amazing gardens.

I had the pleasure of touring the island and enjoyed walking through the gardens.

The name Alcatraz is derived from the Spanish “Alcatraces.” In 1775, the Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala was the first to sail into what is now known as San Francisco Bay – his expedition mapped the bay and named it one of the three islands Alcatraces. Over time, the name was Anglicized to Alcatraz.

Alcatraz has a many-layered history: Civil War fortress, military prison, federal prison, bird sanctuary, the first lighthouse on the West Coast, and the birthplace of the American Indian Red Power movement:

After the U.S. government took control of California from the Republic of Mexico in the late 1840s, it identified Alcatraz Island as a place of great strategic military value. Located in the middle of the bay, the island offered 360-degree military protection. The Army’s Corps of Engineers designed a “Triangle of Defense”, planning to install guns on Alcatraz, Fort Point, and Lime Point (ultimately never constructed) to guard the entrance of San Francisco Bay. The 1848 discovery of gold in California catapulted the territory to the center of national attention and prompted the need for additional military protection.

 Military Period – The Post on Alcatraces & U.S. Disciplinary Barracks – 1850-1933. In1850 Alcatraz was declared a military reservation by President Millard Fillmore, and by 1859 troops were permanently garrisoned at the post on Alcatraces for the defense of the Bay Area.

1861
A military prison was established on the Island. Soil is brought in from nearby Angel Island and, along with the dirt, comes seeds of wild blackberry, coyote brush, and blue elderberry. Barley and ice plants are planted to control erosion, and a few gardens are created near what will become Officers’ Row. During this complex period, over 1500 people were incarcerated on the island.

1912
After the construction of a new cell house, inmates build and plant gardens on
the island’s west side near the guard tower.

 1924

Using plants and seeds donated by the California Spring Blossom and Wild Flower Association, prisoners plant hundreds of pounds of nasturtium and poppies, shrubs, and 300 trees (eucalyptus, pines, cypress, and giant sequoias).

Indians of All Tribes Occupation –

1969-1971

In 1964, and again in 1969-1971, American Indian activists laid claim to Alcatraz Island. Their 19-month occupation would cause significant changes in federal policy and galvanize the Red Power movement.

History of the Warden’s House

The Warden’s House was the home of the wardens of the federal penitentiary Island.  It is located at the southeastern end of the Main Cellblock, next to Alcatraz Lighthouse. The 3-floor 15-room mansion was built in 1921 according to the Golden Gate National Recreational Area.         It was home to four wardens between 1934 and 1963. Despite their serious jobs, the wardens knew how to entertain, and were known to throw lavish cocktail parties just a few feet from the cell house.

Today the house is a ruin, burnt during the AIM (American Indian Movement) Occupation of Alcatraz on June 1, 1970. AIM tried to put out the flames, but a bucket brigade was inadequate.

The Warden’s house had a greenhouse. Working there and getting access was a high mark of trust and approval for an inmate.

The slope below the Warden’s House has been the subject of structural remediation as it was deteriorating.

 THE GARDENS OF ALCATRAZ For more than a century, the residents of Alcatraz created gardens to lift their spirits and soften the harshness of their environment. Families, staff, and prisoners gradually built a landscape of flowering terraces, rose gardens, greenhouses, and lawns. When the prison closed in 1963, this manicured landscape became overgrown and wild. A rich variety of ornamental plants, over 230 species, remained as evidence of the island’s garden history.

Alcatraz gardeners needed tough plants that could survive with little water or care. In the 1930s, the warden’s secretary, Fred Reichel, asked the California Horticultural Society and pioneering western plant breeders for seedlings that might do well on the island. Many of the species that he imported came from the world’s other Mediterranean climates and flourished through 40 years of neglect after the prison closed. Today, visitors to Alcatraz find a landscape alive with fragrant old roses, fig-trees, bulbs, and colorful succulents—historic examples of sustainable planting. Where historic plantings were lost, visitors now find new plants with low maintenance and water needs more appropriate to today’s conditions.

Officers’ Row On the road in front of the cell house, look over the planter to see the restored Officers’ Row gardens. In 1881, the army built three large homes here for the commandant and his officers. A visiting lieutenant reported in 1895, “Near the citadel and officers’ quarters, in little garden spots artificially made by bringing earth from the mainland, were blooming in profusion poppies, geraniums, heliotropes, fuchsias, and calla lilies.” When the Bureau of Prisons demolished two of the houses in 1941, their foundations were converted to flower gardens tended by families and inmates. Garden Conservancy gardeners and volunteers began replanting the flower gardens in 2006.

 Cellhouse Slope Below the lighthouse and Eagle Plaza, look for lavender iceplant on the slopes along West Road. Iceplant, called “Persian carpet” by island residents, once covered many of the island’s steep slopes. The army planted the brilliant lavender carpet to control erosion as well as to improve views of “the Rock” from San Francisco.

 West Lawn and Terraces. The flat area below the west face of the cell house was once the west lawn. Rock walls terrace the slopes on either side. West Road once ran down through a large lawn looking out to the city. This area was irrigated by water reclaimed from the cell house showers, a system devised by the army. On the bayside, the lawn has been overgrown by a thicket of figs and other garden plants that now protect nesting waterbirds. The terraces on this side of the island were mostly built by inmate gardeners in the 1940s.

Prisoner Gardens at the end of West Road, below the recreation yard, are the only gardens that most prisoners could see. Inmates walked down this fenced and heavily guarded hillside on their way to work in the prison industries buildings. In the 1940s, inmate Elliott Michener used salvaged materials to build garden terraces, a greenhouse, and even a birdbath. Using garbage scraps to amend the soil and seed packets from the staff, Michener and his successors created gardens for the eyes of their fellow prisoners, and for their own satisfaction.

If you get the opportunity to visit the island while in San Fransico I would go. I liked the quote I read below

 “I kept no records of my failures, for I had many—the main thing was to assure some success by trying many things and holding on to the plants which had learned that life is worth holding on to even at its bitterest.” Fred Reichel, Warden’s Secretary, 1934–1941

#alcatraz #succulents