Welcome to the Palisade Glacier Chapter, NSDAR
California DAR
The Palisade Glacier Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR or DAR), was organized on May 9, 1951 in Inyo County, California located in the Owens Valley, situated between the Inyo and White Mountain ranges to the east, and the Sierra Nevada range to the west. The ancestral lands of the Owens Valley Paiute, "Nüümü", archaeological evidence demonstrates a long history of human occupation here, with sites predating 4000 B.C.E.
Our chapter was named for the Palisade Glacier, the southernmost permanent glacier in North America. The glacier is located at 12,700 feet in the Sierra Nevada's John Muir Wilderness, in what is known as the Palisades, an area defined by dramatic light, spectacular jagged pinnacles, and high mountain peaks. The Palisades were named by Josiah Whitney, California State Geologist and director of the California Geological Survey, who surveyed the area in 1864, and for whom Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States, is named. Five of the peaks in the Palisades are over 14,000 feet in elevation and include Thunderbolt, Starlight, Polemonium, Middle Palisade and North Palisade, which at 14,248 feet, is the third highest mountain in the Sierra Nevada, and fourth highest in California.
In 1928, California mountaineer, Norman Clyde, who made hundreds of notable first ascents in the Sierra during the first half of the twentieth century, made the first solo ascent of North Palisade. In 1931, Clyde and his party, which included Jules Eichorn, Lewis Clark, Bestor Robinson, and Glen Dawson, made the first ascent of the last unclimbed peak in California, located in the Palisades. During the descent, the party was caught in an intense lightning storm with a bolt nearly striking Eichorn. The peak would later be named Thunderbolt in commemoration of Eichorn's close call.
Women who have contributed to the history of this area include Alice Piper of Big Pine, a Nüümü student, whose 1924 precedent-setting lawsuit eventually opened doors to school desegregation nationwide; Mary Austin, author of Land of Little Rain; Marta Becket choreographer and dancer who owned and performed at Amargosa Opera House; American alpine ski racer, teacher and watercolorist, Jill Kinmont Boothe, whose life story was recounted in the film, The Other Side of the Mountain; Mary White aka "Panamint Annie" a hard rock miner in Death Valley; US Olympic Skier Andrea Mead Lawrence of Mammoth Lakes; Mono Lake Northern Paiute "Kootzaduka'a" basket weavers, Carrie Bethel and Nellie Charlie; Antelope Valley Washoe weaver Lena Frank Dick; and Lucy Telles, also of Mono Lake and Yosemite Valley, to name a few.
Inyo County is home to Mount Whitney and North America's lowest point, Badwater (-282 feet below sea level), located in Death Valley National Park. Mono County to the north, includes Mono Lake, Bodie Ghost Town and serves as the eastern gateway to Yosemite National Park. Though we are a small chapter, we are surrounded by vast, beautiful landscapes, rich in history and geological features.
The Palisades Glacier Chapter represents members from Inyo and Mono counties, but local residency is not a requirement for membership in any chapter and there are many chapters found throughout the state.
Today's DAR
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