Land owner says metal fencing wasn't stolen

By KRIS REILLY, Editor

LUCERNE VALLEY • Property owner John Liguori said last week that the metal fence surrounding a local pioneer’s memorial was not stolen; it was just taken for safekeeping.

A small fence made of metal tubing surrounding a memorial for pioneer Peter Davidson was damaged last month in a traffic collision. After the incident, the metal disappeared, and a concerned passerby called the sheriff’s department to report that it had been stolen.

Liguori, who has owned the parcel near the memorial since the early 1990’s, said he took the fence away after it was damaged, fearing that thieves would take it and scrap it for cash.

“The first guy that comes along with a junk truck, that thing is gone,” Liguori said.

Liguori said he’s been in contact with the man who ran into the fence, and the man has agreed to repair it. Liguori said the man also agreed to repair a black stone cross that was partially damaged in the collision.

According to the marker, Davidson was “born in Scotland, 1826, settled in Lucerne Valley in 1883 and is believed to be the area’s first white settler. He built a home on the knoll behind this site and gave food and lodging to wayfarers. He died, unmarried, Jan. 17, 1908 an age 82. His grave is 30 or 40 feet north.”

The marker states that the research was done by a man named Ellsworth Sylvester and the marker was dedicated in 1981 by the Apple Valley Optimist Club and the Lucerne Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The estimated location of the grave would put it just north of Rabbit Springs Road or perhaps beneath the road itself. A local legend holds that Davidson is buried directly below the intersection of Kendall and Rabbit Springs.