History

1850's - DISCOVERY

White men discovered Yosemite Valley and surrounds. The land was public domain.

1851: Major James D. Savage and the Mariposa Battalion of volunteer Indian fighters camp on the South Fork of the Merced River. They later discover Yosemite Valley.

1852: Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias is discovered by a party of prospectors.

1856: Galen Clark settles in the area of Wawona. He homesteads 160 acres and calls the place, “Clark’s Crossing” or “Clark’s Station”.

1857: Clark builds a bridge over the South Fork of the Merced River.

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1864 - STATE PARK

The Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove are granted to the State of California as a park.

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1870 - FIRST WHITE SETTLERS

 

The road from Mariposa to Wawona is completed. Work begins on the road to Yosemite Valley.

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1875 - WAWONA NAMED

 

The Washburn brothers buy Clark's Station and rename it Wawona. The name is the word used by the Miwok Indians to describe the giant sequoias. They derived the word from the sound made by the great gray owl, a deity and protector of the great trees. The road from Wawona to Yosemite Valley is completed.

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1878 - MARIPOSA GROVE ACCESS

 

A wagon road is constructed into the Mariposa Grove. Clark’s original hotel burns.

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1879-1884 - WAWONA HOTEL BUILT

 

The present Wawona Hotel building is constructed in 1879. In 1884, Clark's Cottage is built.

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1890 - YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK By 1890

 

Much public interest in Yosemite had been generated and nationwide support was behind the National Park movement. On October 1, 1890, a law was signed by Benjamin Harrison which established a Forest Preserve of 42 townships that would later be called Yosemite National Park.

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LATE 1890'S - OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

 

1895: a fish hatchery is constructed and operated by the State of California.

1896: Moore Cottage is constructed.

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1905-1906 - LAND ADJUSTMENTS

 

Relations between park administrators and owners of private properties became strained when the Federal Government failed to provide necessary funds to acquire private claims within the Park. Boundary revisions were a solution, and large areas on the east, west, and southwest of Yosemite were removed from the park in 1905 and 1906. Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove were ceded to the Federal Government to become part of Yosemite National Park.

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1910-1929 - AUTOS AND HOTEL GROWTH

 

1913: Automobiles were allowed into the Park.

1914: Rangers replaced the U.S. Cavalry, and the Wawona road opened to auto traffic.

1916: Congress created the National Park Service (NPS).

1917: Wawona Hotel Company constructs Annex and the Chinese laundry.

1918: The golf course and swimming tank are constructed.

1920: Sequoia Hotel is built.

1929: New road from Wawona to Yosemite Valley started.

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1930-1940 - WAWONA AREA ACQUIRED

 

1932: The Washburns sold their Wawona interests to the NPS and the facilities were leased to Yosemite Park and Curry Company. The Wawona Basin, then an 8,783-acre resort development of Forest Service and privately owned land and a major access to one-third of Yosemite's backcountry, was purchased by donated funds of $180,300 that were matched by congressional appropriation. Some private owners refused the option to sell, and private acreage (in holdings) remains today in Wawona's Section 35, constituting the largest privately owned area within Yosemite National Park's exterior boundaries. The question of jurisdiction over private land within Yosemite was unclear because the presidential proclamation that added the Wawona Basin to Yosemite included the language "subject to all valid existing rights". In 1940, an opinion of the California Attorney General concluded that jurisdiction over private land had not been ceded to the USA. Wawona Stables construction was started to replace the stable that was removed by the new road.

1933: Work on the Wawona Road and tunnel was completed and dedicated June 10. Two CCC camps were established in Wawona.

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1960'S-1970'S - PRIVATE PROPERTY ACQUISITION/WAPOA

 

During the late 1960’s and through the 1970’s, the NPS embarked on an aggressive program of private property acquisition. In 1978, then California Attorney General Evelle Younger concluded in an opinion that criminal jurisdiction over private land was ceded to the USA. The NPS immediately began plans to establish federal land use controls for private land in Wawona and to implement a land acquisition plan.

Property owners over the age of 65 were offered to sell their property and allowed to live out their lives retaining use of their property for a yearly lease. Younger owners would sell to the NPS and be allowed a maximum twenty-five-year tenancy. Resistant owners were often subject to condemnation proceedings. Several properties were condemned and forcibly possessed by the NPS. Wawona Area Property Owners Association (WAPOA) was formed to combat aggressive government action.

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1980'S - MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

 

The federal land use controls that were sent to Wawona homeowners on March 25, 1981 included an official land use district map. The map covered all of Section 35 with five (5) land use districts or zones as follows: Mountain Residential, Limited Commercial, Park Activity, Environmental Protection and Flood Plain.

The Wawona Area Property Owners Association (WAPOA) took issue with the jurisdiction conflict and the NPS proposed seeking a Declarative Judgment in court that would define the legal game rules in Wawona and El Portal.

In 1981, the Interior Field Solicitor opined that the Secretary of the Interior is authorized by law to retrocede legislative jurisdiction from exclusive to concurrent over areas within the Park. Meanwhile, the NPS proposed a division of responsibilities with the County with respect to Wawona that retained administration and enforcement of their land use controls.

In 1984, NPS Director Russell Dickenson initiated the relinquishment of partial legislative jurisdiction in a letter to California Governor Deukmejian.

Work continued negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the County and the NPS and the details of the land use regulations for Wawona. These documents were approved by the Board of Supervisors on October 1, 1985 and the MOU was signed by Yosemite Superintendent John Morehead on May 21, 1987.

The MOU anticipated the Specific Plan and directed that it be incorporated in the MOU when approved. The Wawona Town Planning Advisory Committee was formed, and the Wawona Town Planning Area Specific Plan was adopted by resolution on October 13, 1987 and added to Title 17 of Mariposa County Code by ordinance dated October 20, 1987.

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1990'S - WTPAC

 

The Wawona Town Planning Area Specific Plan was amended in 1990 and again in 1991.

The Specific Plan is a part of the MOU between the County and the NPS. Referenced in the MOU is a unique appeals board that is structured to rule on appeals of Planning Commission actions in Wawona.

In 1997, the Wawona Town Planning Advisory Committee (WTPAC) was reactivated and committee members were appointed.They began work on amending the Specific Plan to accommodate the historic use of property in Section 35 owned by the Central California Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church commonly known as Camp Wawona as an organized recreational camp.

The reactivated WTPAC met first in February of 1998, and met regularly thereafter.

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