Lloyd Vernon Briggs (1863-1941)

Emerald Bay

From California and the West, 1881, and later, 1931

California has always attracted adventurers, and no matter how much an adventurer prepares for their own death, sometimes the best laid plans simply go awry.

On a visit to Lake Tahoe in 1921, traveler Lloyd Briggs tells the story of Dick Barter, the "Hermit of Emerald Bay," an undertaker who settled on the bay's shores and there prepared his eventual resting place.

We . . . drove to Emerald Bay, one of the most beautiful and romantic places on Lake Tahoe, a little over three miles in length by half a mile wide. The road was very rough, but the spot was so lovely that it more than repaid us for our discomfort. Near by is an island surrounded by rock, upon which is a rude tomb with a cross. The story goes that the island belonged years ago to an erratic Englishman called Captain Dick, who lived there for some time and built the tomb for his own remains. Unfortunately he ventured out upon the lake in his boat one dark and stormy night when he had taken so much to drink that hewas unable to navigate. He was drowned and his body was never recovered, so the lonely tomb is empty.

Lloyd Briggs, originally from Boston, traveled extensively throughout the United States and published his travel diary From California and the West in 1931.

–Contributed by Emily Elrod.