I received a few responses to last week’s question.

First, let’s get this irreverent one out of the way. Jim Marsh, famous as the architect for the Idyllwild Community Center, wrote, “Not much to explain. I’ve always had low self-esteem, but you can’t really blame me. How would you feel if you had to stare across the Valley at Lily Rock for hundreds of millenniums? She’s prettier, more photogenic, and stands taller than me.  I just couldn’t take it anymore and in 1747 A.D, I overdosed on ice and snow.”

Jim Reed wrote, “The name suicide rock came from when a Native American princess and her lover were ordered to separate they decided to commit suicide by jumping off the rock …”

Reed correctly tells the legend that has various interpretations — one where lovers from two different tribes are prevented from being together, and one where parents prohibit the binding.

Some say the legend was created to increase tourism in the area in the early 1900s.

1 COMMENT

  1. I moved to Idyllwild around 1959/1960. I was 3ish. Growing up in the later 60s and 70s, the story listed here about two Indian lovers, being prohibited from being with each other was what I heard back then. Now that it is on the Internet, I know it must be true.