Nate Harrison is a San Diego icon whose story is remarkable and worth taking time to research more thoroughly. Not only did he make the San Diego community more accepting of African Americans, but he helped to eliminate the sigma of negativity towards foreigners. Nate lived from the late 19thto early 20thcenturies, most of it in San Diego. Born into the plantation generation of slaves, Nate grew up laboring the field of Mississippi as a young boy. When he was only 16 years old, he was put up for auction along with many other slaves his age. At this time, he saw the opportunity to escape, so he swam down the Mississippi river for miles until reaching safety. After that, he traveled with the Welty family by wagon, to the mountains of San Bernardino where he started a new life. The Welty family was another family moving west who agreed to take Nate along as a slave. Once they had arrived in California, the Welty family no longer needed Nate’s labor so they gave him his freedom so he could start a new life.[1]While many details of his story have been lost and many aspects of his early life are highly debated, Nate Harrison’s impact is valuable and important to remember in history. Nate Harrison lived to be over 100 years old and during his lifetime he had many friendly interactions with travelers, he broke down racial barriers for the community, and his legacy continued when a monument was erected on his homestead site of Palomar Mountain, all of which show how he was able to mold San Diego into a space of black freedom.
Nate lived a long life, mostly in solitude on the west side of Palomar Mountain. It is important to note that while he chose to live in a remote area by himself, he was “neither isolated nor alone”.[2]There was always a constant flow of travelers passing by and stopping to keep Nate company. Travelers used what was known as the West Grade Road to pass over the mountain and make their way down to the Pauma Valley below. Passersby would often stop and talk to the kindhearted African American man as he was always in a cheerful and uplifting mood. He was known to many as ‘uncle Nate’ a sign of his character and friendliness.[3]Although he was an African American in a predominantly white society, people still treated him as close family than stranger or outsider. Nate would offer the grateful travelers and their horses buckets of cold water from his spring as they made their way up the steep grade.[4]Nate was also friends with many of the local Indians in the area even though there were often confrontations between white settlers who were invading on tribal lands.[5]He lived a simple life just like the Indians and faced many of the same issues surrounding slavery during his childhood. This was one of the things that made Nate special, he was able to make connections with people who were strangers and become an overall well-liked individual in the San Diego area.
Nate Harrison was known as “the first white man on Palomar” [6]even though he was not white, nor the first to live on the mountain. The citizens of San Diego who knew Nate thought of him and treated him the same as they would any one of the white citizens. This was one of the many differences he made on the community, by breaking down the traditional barriers and ideologies that came with being a racial minority, he was able to help San Diego become a haven for African Americans fleeing difficult situations. They called him the first man on the mountain because there was no one as helpful and sincere that interacted with people passing by regularly. There were however some myths about Nate which were likely from people who opposed African American rights and Nate’s presence in San Diego. One newspaper who wrote an article about Nate called him “isolated, destitute, and lazy”[7]however, artifacts recovered from his home and alternate suggest otherwise. The items show that he had “many visitors, including women and children and processed animal hides as part of a self-sustaining cottage industry.” [8]. It is also important to share that Nate Harrison has the most historical photographs of any San Diegan person during the 19thcentury.[9]
If you go to Palomar Mountain today, you will see a bronze plaque that reads ‘NateHarrison Spring’ next to where his house was located. Since the time he lived there, the area has been researched by archeologists who have uncovered many artifacts and relics that belonged to Nate Harrison (Figure 1[10]). The archeological findings have been important in learning more about his life and the interactions he had with people around him. After his death, Nate’s friends collected money and built a monument that reads “A man’s a man for a’ that.”[11]This quote is the title of a 1795 song that was likely one of Nate’s favorites. This is a way of showing how important Nate was to the community and how much people appreciated his presence.
Nate Harrison’s legacy lives on today as San Diego continues to be a place where migrants feel welcome whatever their background. The combination of primary accounts and secondary sources have revealed an abundance of information about Nate Harrison’s life, some of which can be difficult to decipher fact from fiction. Questions still arise about what he will be remembered for. Most notably, Nate Harrison transformed San Diego into a secure and safe community for African Americans. Nate executed many of the visions that African Americans had after the Civil War: home ownership, freedom, and equality. Nate embodied these ideals and his impact can certainly be seen in the generations that follow. Even today, there is a great African American presence in San Diego as well as multiple museums that help remember the legacy of African American history. Nate will continue to be thought of as one of the African Americans icons that helped strive for black freedom.
Bibliography
James, Laura. “Palomar’s Friendly Hermit.” The Journal of San Diego History 4, no. 1 (January 1958): 5-8.
Beckler, Marion. “Nate Harrison: Palomar Mountain: Past and Present.” Palm Desert, California: Desert Magazine Press, 2019.
Brennan, Deborah. “Unearthing the life of a pioneer.” The San Diego Union Tribune. April 1, 2017 Saturday.
https://advance-lexis-com.sandiego.idm.oclc.org/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:5N70-9TW1-JBM5-R3CV-00000-00&context=1516831.
Mallios, Seth. “Archeological Myth Busting at Palomar Mountain’s Nate Harrison Historical Site.”Save Our Heritage Organization, no. 42 (2011): 20-25.
Mallios, Seth. “Archaeological Excavations at the Nate Harrison Site in San Diego: Interim Technical Report for the 2005 Field Season.” San Diego State University, Department of Anthropology, 2-67.
[1]Laura James, “Palomar’s Friendly Hermit,” The Journal of San Diego History 4, no. 1 (January 1958): 6
[2]Seth Mallios, “Archeological Myth Busting at Palomar Mountain’s Nate Harrison Historical Site,” Save Our Heritage Organization, no. 42 (2011): 23
[3]Seth Mallios, “Archaeological Excavations at the Nate Harrison Site in San Diego: Interim Technical Report for the 2005 Field Season,” San Diego State University, Department of Anthropology, 2-67
[4]Deborah Brennan, “Unearthing the life of a pioneer.” The San Diego Union Tribune. April 1, 2017 Saturday,
https://advance-lexis-com.sandiego.idm.oclc.org/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:5N70-9TW1-JBM5-R3CV-00000-00&context=1516831.
[5]Laura James, “Palomar’s Friendly Hermit,” The Journal of San Diego History 4, no. 1 (January 1958): 6
[6]Marion Beckler, Nate Harrison: Palomar Mountain: Past and Present. Palm Desert, California: Desert Magazine Press, 2019, 9
[7]Seth Mallios, “Archeological Myth Busting at Palomar Mountain’s Nate Harrison Historical Site,” Save Our Heritage Organization, no. 42 (2011): 22
[8]Ibid., pp 22.
[9]Ibid., pp 23.
[10]Ibid., pp 20-21.
[11]Laura James, “Palomar’s Friendly Hermit,” The Journal of San Diego History 4, no. 1 (January 1958): 8