The History of the World in Granite at The Center of the World in Felicity, California

Creating The Center of the World and getting it officially recognized by the Imperial County Board of Supervisors was not enough for Jacques-Andre Istel.  He decided to present the history of the world etched in granite.

Museum of History in Granite

Literacy for Millennia

The History of
Humanity

Judaism & the Code of

Hammurabi

The Rise & Fall of Civilizations

in the Americas, Africa,

Europe, Asia

Early Medicine













Istel, referred to as the Founder, researches topics and writes the inscriptions for
each panel.

Architecture from

Ancient Civilizations

Mystical Stone Forms
Around the World

History of the United

States of America with

a replica of the

Liberty Bell

There's too much history to share in one blog post.  I decided to include the historic sites Eric and I have visited.





Early Settlement:
Roanoke: the Lost Colony

Jamestown & the story
of Pocahontas

The Mayflower & the

Plymouth Colony

The First Thanksgiving

The American Revolution

The First President:

George Washington

 President Thomas Jefferson

The War of 1812:

Eric & I visited Sackets

 Harbor Battlefield &

Chalmette Battlefield

The Civil War raged from 
1861 - 1865.







Eric and I visited Fort Sumter, the site of the first shots fired in the Civil War; the Gettysburg and Vicksburg Battlefields; the National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Andersonville Prison.  In our travels, Eric and I have seen artwork and statues commemorating Confederate soldiers and battles throughout the South.

A world wide Depression in

 the 1930s devastated the

 U.S. economy.

President Franklin D.

Roosevelt provided

hope & help during

the worst of times.

President Roosevelt led our
country through World War 
II, until his death on April 
12, 1944.

War leads to scientific advances in weaponry, battlefield medicine....

The U.S. developed the

Atomic Bomb at

 Los Alamos, New Mexico.

President Harry S. Truman
succeeded President Roosevelt;
oversaw the end of World War
II & the beginning of the
Korean War.

President Eisenhower oversaw
the Korean Armistice & managed
the booming 1950s economy.

President John F. Kennedy was

steered our country during the

toughest years of the Cold War.

President Lyndon B. Johnson is

remembered for his prosecution

of the Vietnam War & not the

social programs passed during

his administration.

The US Space Program

Eric & I visited Kennedy
Space Center & watched 
a Space-X Missile
Launch.









The Founder saved some space for his own history.

He memorialized his time at

 Stony Brook School in

 New York.

He honors his graduating
class of 1949 from
Princeton University
in New Jersey.

Istel served in the Marine Corps

 during the Korean War.

He is an honorary member of
the French Foreign Legion.

Istel was an innovator in civilian

 parachuting, which became

 known as skydiving.

This is a huge task for a man to take on, even with help.  Jacques-Andre Istel is busy working to fill the blank panels with the history of the world.