The first of America’s WWII concentration camps to be built, Manzanar was first at a lot of other things as well: the first to have an official historic marker, the site of the first public camp pilgrimage, the first to become a unit of the National Park Service, among other things. In addition to its extensive parks and gardens, and the iconic “Ireito” monument, Manzanar is also well known for the infamous “riot” (now more commonly referred to as an uprising) of December 1942, as the site of the Manzanar Children’s Village orphanage, and of an experimental guayule (a rubber substitute) project as well as one of three WRA camps to have a camouflage net factory.

One of two camps located in southeastern Arkansas—and less than thirty miles from Rohwer, the other such camp—Jerome was the earliest WRA camp to close, shutting down at the end of June 1944. But it was unique in other ways, including a high number of inmates from Hawai`i, a severe flu epidemic in late 1943, and popular local “delicacies” like grilled rattlesnake.