RB Historical Society to Feature Kumeyaay Indians Speaker, Artifacts

The Rancho Bernardo Historical Society's Speakers Series will present a free program entitled The Ancestral Traditions of the Kumeyaay Indians on Wed., June 19 at 10 a.m. at the history museum in the Bernardo Winery.

Speaker O'Jay Vanegas serves as the education director of the Barona Cultural Center and Museum, San Diego County's first museum on an Indian reservation dedicated to the perpetuation and presentation of the local Kumeyaay-Diegueno Native culture. His power point program highlights how these indigenous people survived and flourished using raw natural resources. They acquired skillful use of plants as a source of food and medicines while developing important industries such as basketry, pottery making and flaking of stone tools.

O'Jay will share artifacts from the museum with the audience—along with his stories of our local history before and after the Spaniards arrived. The Kumeyaay population still thrives in our community today and this program includes their transition into the modern world.    

The Historical Society has scheduled free educational programs, which include noted authorities in our community, on the third Wednesday of each month at 10 a.m. in the museum at 13330 Paseo del Verano Norte. For more information visit RBHistoricalSociety.org.

-Rancho Bernardo Historical Society news release