Yosemite Forum

I worked there the Summer of 1969. They have torn down this old lodge and restored the property to it's natural state.

I'm looking for any pictures of the old Lodge and any other info that might be available online.

I've found an old picture from a postcard but absolutly nothing else.

Anybody have any info that might help my search?

Thanks.

No picture of Big Trees Lodge.
Greene's Historic Resource Study is probably the best place to go.

Photo of remains taken in 1980s:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosem ... l#page_896

Map of Big Trees Lodge site:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosem ... l#page_620

Short chronology:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosem ... l#page_894

Thanks Dan.

That's the first I heard about the fire destroying the building. Pretty sad to see the old lodge reduced to that.

Odd there isn't any pictures floating around online of the lodge when it was in operation.

If anybody else has some, I'd sure like to view them.

Hard to believe but you can't Google a picture of the old lodge.

I'm looking for anybody out there who has or has taken pictures of Big Trees Lodge before it burnt down and has them on disk.

I worked and lived there one summer and regret I never took any pictures. Hopefully somebody out there will have some to share.

Thanks!

For pictures and a floor plan of Big Tree Lodge, see:

Albert H. Good, Park and Recreation Structures, Part III--Overnight - and Organized Camp Facilities (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1938), 70-71

This is according to Greene's Historic Resource Study on p. 894:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosem ... l#page_894

Her study also has a picture of the remains of the Big Tree Lodge in the 1980s (just a foundation, basically):
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosem ... l#page_896

If you're in California you can use www.calcat.org to find the nearest library that has a copy. Outside California use www.worldcat.org

Here's a drawing of Big Trees Lodge from the October 1951 Yosemite Nature Notes:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosem ... /30-10.pdf

And another one from the April 1951 Yosemite Nature Notes:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosem ... 9/29-4.pdf

Here's a photo of Big Tree Lodge, Mariposa Grove from the NPS leaflet "Yosemite National Park California" dated 3-20-1940.



The text says:
"An attractive lodge of architecture common in California during the "gold rush" days offers comfortable accommodations for those who wish to sleep in the midst of the Mariposa big trees in the summer."

Good job digging that old photo out, Dan. It looked pretty much the same in 1969 when I worked there.

Here's a picture I took last May while scouting around up there.


This would have been taken from about the level of where the steps would have been, looking back through the lodge and where the outside dining patio was.

If you run across any more pics of the old Lodge, please post them!

Thanks!

Here's a picture of Big Trees Lodge taken around 1934 by Ansel Adams.
It's from Yosemite Tales and Trails (1934) by Katherine Ames Taylor.

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosem ... trees.html

Here's an old postcard of Big Trees Lodge, Mariposa Grove
I don't have the original.
It's an old-fashioned linen postcard published by Western Publishing & Novelty Co., Los Angeles, Cal. in "C. T. Art Colortone"