A few weekends ago my husband and I wanted to go for a drive. We decided to research interesting New Jersey landmarks to see if there were any nearby attractions we could visit. We looked to Atlas Obscura for a list of unique places to explore. There were some spots on the list we’ve already visited, including the discovery site of the first partially complete dinosaur skeleton in nearby Haddonfield, New Jersey. We decided to venture a bit farther to see the Emilio Carranza Memorial.

Located in Tabernacle, New Jersey, the memorial sits in a small clearing off the road in the Pine Barrens. The Aztec-inspired monument honors Captain Emilio Carranza Rodríguez, an early-20th-century Mexican aviator. Carranza set numerous aviation records at the time, including flying the first non-stop flight from Mexico City to Juarez. He was also friends with American aviator Charles Lindbergh, garnering him the nickname “Lindbergh of Mexico.”

In July 1928 Carranza was selected to fly a goodwill flight from Mexico City to Washington, D.C., in response to the goodwill flight Lindbergh took the previous year. He met with President Calvin Coolidge upon arrival in Washington, D.C., then flew on to New York City. On his return trip from New York City, Carranza was met with bad storms, and his plane crashed in the Pine Barrens on July 12, 1928.

The monument stands in a clearing within the Wharton State Forest as a somber, if somewhat out-of-place, tribute. On our visit there were still wreaths and mementos, proving Carranza’s impact is not forgotten.

— Katie Skrzek, vice president/digital director