168-year-old Yosemite National Park hotel is closing. What to know about the Wawona
An historic piece of Yosemite lodging is getting an indefinitely closure in December as the National Park Service conducts a “comprehensive condition assessment” on the 168-year-old Wawona Hotel complex.
The park recently started work on a roof replacement project for the main hotel building inside the national park in Central California.
That process “revealed the need for more intensive investigation and assessment of the hotel,” the park service said in a social media post Wednesday.
The closure takes effect Dec. 2 and room cancellations have already been made for guests with future reservations, according to the website travelyosemite.com.
There is no word on when the hotel might reopen.
The Wawona Hotel stands in Yosemite National Park’s Wawona on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021.
California’s original mountain lodging
The Wawona Hotel is 30 minutes from Yosemite Valley near Mariposa Grove and the southern entrance to the park on Highway 41.
The hotel serves as a step back in time.
It’s one of the state’s original mountain resorts with a history that can be traced back to 1856 and the establishment of Clark’s Station, which provided lodging and refreshment for travelers going to Yosemite Valley.
It was renamed Wawona (the native word for big trees) in 1882 by the wife of Henry Washburn, who owned the hotel at the time and was responsible for construction of its main building, which was done in Victorian style popular on the East Coast.
Side note: Washburn’s grandniece, the actress Wawona Washburn Hartwig, was born at the hotel in 1914 and got her start in Hollywood a stunt double in the 1929 film “Tiger Rose,” which was filmed at Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove.
For comparison, Yosemite’s other historic hotel, The Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley, opened in 1927.
Over the years, the Wawona complex expanded to include not only the hotel (its 104 rooms are set off a wrap-around porch adorned with Adirondack chairs for guests), but also an antique Chinese laundry building (which reopened to the public in 2022), a nine-hole golf course, swimming pool and riding stables. It became a landmark spot for tourists in the park, visited by no less than three U.S. presidents.
In recent years, the Wawona has come under threat of wildfire on several occasions. The hotel was evacuated by the Washburn Fire, which also threatened Mariposa Grove.
Galen Clark (left) contemplates new arrivals at his hostelry, Clark’s Station, near the site of the present Wawona Hotel about 1866.
Deterioration of historic structures
News of the hotel’s closure comes following concerns about the deterioration of historic structures in Yosemite due to failures by the company contracted to run hospitality services inside the national park.
In May, SFGate reported that a guest was injured at The Wawona Hotel after a fall caused by faulty railing.
“Extensive deterioration and rot of railings” were identified by the park service in annual evaluations in both 2022 and 2023, according to the SFGate report. There have also been reports of deteriorating conditions at the Ahwahnee Hotel, including pieces of its ceiling falling down.
In 2016, The National Park Service began a 15-year contract with Yosemite Hospitality, LLC, a subsidiary of Aramark, to provide concession services, including operation of lodging properties, inside Yosemite.
Scott Gediman, Yosemite Park public information officer, speaks during the dedication of the 1917 Chinese laundry building at Wawona, which was dedicated Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. The building, principally was used to service the Wawona Hotel, was also used in various purposes over the years and is being rededicated to tell the story of Chinese American contributions to Yosemite’s history.
Wawona Hotel, c. 1920s postcard.
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