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During the California gold rush, E Clampus Vitus was a fraternal order and benevolence society for miners and was rumored to be one of Bodie’s secret societies during the town’s heyday. In the present day, ECV has been dedicated to preserving California history, and members of the Bodie chapter were instrumental in preserving Bodie as a historical landmark. With their help, legislation was drafted in 1956 to add Bodie to the state park system, the process was completed by 1962, Bodie was included in the National Registry of Historic Sites one year later, and in 1964 Bodie was dedicated as a state park. After 34 winters, several monuments unveiled during that ceremony were damaged, leading to the repair, relocation, and rededication of the original monument as a California sesquicentennial event on September 12, 1998.

California · United States