Save Our Heritage Organisation
Magazine
Spring 2007 - Volume 38, Issue 2
Ron May & the Fort Guijarros Museum Foundation
In Defense of HistoryTwenty-five years, 400 boxes, 250,000 artifacts, sketched, cleaned, catalogued, counted, weighed and packaged and then published. That was the work that was to lay ahead one fateful June day in 1981 when our next winner was supervising the Navy's compliance to an antiquities permit.
The Navy hoped to clear the process to obtain permits to put up a bronze plaque at Ballast Point but they found buried treasure instead. While digging a trench for an archeological review, the archeology team struck a waterline and when the water subsided they were amazed to discover Spanish tiles in the bottom of the trench.
A foundation was formed to further excavate the remains of a Spanish fort and debris from 19th century whaling companies that used Ballast Point for their fishing industry by sifting through debris covered up by a modern parking lot. This legacy has been supported over the years by dedicated volunteers, the US Navy and by the Spanish Consulate. And in 1989, the Spanish Consulate honored its founder Ronald May with the Knight's cross.
SOHO honors Ron May & the Fort Guijarros Museum Foundation: G. Scott Anderson, Pedro Catala, Maria Ferri, John C. Hinkle, Maisie Morris, Paula Reynolds, and Mary Platter Rieger with the In Defense of History Award.
- Lifetime Achievement
- Preservation Leadership
- Preservationist of the Year
- Stewardship
- Keeper of the Flame
- In Defense of History
- Home Restoration
- Preservation by Acquisition
- Saving Natural Landscapes
- Spirit of Preservation
- Community Preservation
- Preservation of Cultural Heritage
- Honorable Mention
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