Oasis of Mara — Water, Serrano History and a Clearly Labeled Legend
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
The Oasis of Mara exists because groundwater reaches the surface in an otherwise dry landscape. That made it important long before a national park.
The Serrano called the place Mara, meaning “the place of little springs and much grass.” Palms provided food and materials, while water supported settlement and travel.
There is also a local Indigenous legend recorded by the National Park Service. According to that legend, a medicine man told the Serrano they would have many boy babies and instructed them to plant a palm for each boy born; twenty-nine palms were planted in the first year. This is a legend, not an independently verified historical event.
By the early twentieth century, non-Indigenous settlement and changing water use had transformed the oasis, and Serrano and Chemehuevi families no longer lived here permanently. The site therefore combines living tribal heritage, ecological scarcity and displacement.