Independence, CA Tourist Attractions

The Eastern California Museum, in which can be seen Indian artifacts and those from Lone Pine's pioneering period, is to be found in Independence, the county town of Inyo County, some 16mi/26km north of Lone Pine on the CA 395.Also in Independence can be seen the so-called Commander's House, a beautiful Victorian building, built for the commandant of Fort Independence (which no longer stands), and was moved to its present site in 1889. It can be visited on Sundays and on other days by prior telephone appointment.The Manzanar Relocation Camp, which housed Japanese-Americans during World War II, was 5 miles from Independence. Exhibits at the Eastern California Museum explain this period.The museum's collection of Native American basketry, numbering more than 400 pieces, represents one of the largest, collections of Owens Valley Paiute and Shoshone basketry in the nation. The collection, along with rare Paiute beadwork, arrows, bows and art, is housed in the Anna and OK Kelley Gallery of Native American Life.

The Manzanar National Historic Site is run by the National Parks Service and is located just off Highway 395 in Owen's Valley at the foot of the Sierra Nevada range. It is one of ten camps used to inter Japanese Americans during the Second World War.The 550 acre site was established as a National Historic Site by Congress on March 3, 1992.

The Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery is housed in a Tudor-Style building constructed in 1917. The grounds of the hatchery are a lush old European country estate.