The State Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously to rename a day-use area in the Folsom Lake Recreation Area after years of calls to do so.The controversial park name will temporarily be named “Black Miners Bar” after the commission voted 7-0 on Friday at a public hearing. It was previously called Negro Bar. It could take a year before an official name is chosen. The day-use area is on the northwestern shore of Lake Natoma about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento. The site offers trails, paddle sports concessions and is a training center for junior lifeguards.The historic town site of Negro Bar was located across the American River from where the current day-use facilities are and used to have 500-600 residents, according to government records from the 1850s.“The historical use of the name appears in reference to Black miners during the gold rush including from an 1850 newspaper article noting Black miners finding gold at this location in 1848,” according to State Parks.State Parks previously decided not to change the name when it came up as an issue in 1999.In 2018, Phaedra Jones, a Black woman from Stockton, created an online petition to change the name.In 2020 there was a formal request to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to change the site’s name, according to the State Parks Department.On Saturday, a Juneteenth commemoration event will take place at the site.This is a developing story, stay with KCRA 3 for the latest.
The State Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously to rename a day-use area in the Folsom Lake Recreation Area after years of calls to do so.
The controversial park name will temporarily be named “Black Miners Bar” after the commission voted 7-0 on Friday at a public hearing. It was previously called Negro Bar.
It could take a year before an official name is chosen.
The day-use area is on the northwestern shore of Lake Natoma about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento. The site offers trails, paddle sports concessions and is a training center for junior lifeguards.
The historic town site of Negro Bar was located across the American River from where the current day-use facilities are and used to have 500-600 residents, according to government records from the 1850s.
“The historical use of the name appears in reference to Black miners during the gold rush including from an 1850 newspaper article noting Black miners finding gold at this location in 1848,” according to State Parks.
State Parks previously decided not to change the name when it came up as an issue in 1999.
In 2018, Phaedra Jones, a Black woman from Stockton, created an online petition to change the name.
In 2020 there was a formal request to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to change the site’s name, according to the State Parks Department.
On Saturday, a Juneteenth commemoration event will take place at the site.
This is a developing story, stay with KCRA 3 for the latest.
Read More: Commission votes to rename Folsom Lake day-use area