{"nrhp_refnum":"04001159","name":"Yosemite Valley","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Yosemite National Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Yosemite","county":"Mariposa County","state":"CA","lat":37.73535113600008,"lon":-119.61374702374985,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-12-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Architecture","Politics/Government","Community Planning and Development","Transportation","Entertainment/Recreation","Conservation"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering the Merced River valley floor in Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County, California, from Pohono Bridge to Nevada Fall and Mirror Lake. It holds roads, trails, buildings, structures, meadows and other landscape features, mostly from the 1850s to 1942.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the valley floor is a unique cultural landscape shaped by thousands of years of American Indian management and by 150 years of Euro-American tourism, park development and efforts to preserve a 'natural' scene. Its development footprint, in place by 1942, reflects early resort growth and the National Park Service rustic architecture program. The district also holds the Yosemite Village, Ahwahnee Hotel and Camp Curry areas, each significant in its own right.","narrative":"Yosemite Valley is a nine-mile granite gorge in the Sierra Nevada where the Merced River crosses a flat floodplain of meadows and oak and pine woodland, beneath cliffs such as El Capitan and Half Dome. This historic district covers the valley floor from Pohono Bridge to Mirror Lake and Vernal Fall. It includes roads, trails, bridges, stables, comfort stations, meadows, orchards and Camp 4, along with the Yosemite Village, Ahwahnee Hotel and Camp Curry areas. American Indians managed the valley with periodic burning for thousands of years. Tourists arrived in the 1850s, wagon roads followed in the 1870s, and after 1916 the National Park Service built visitor facilities in a rustic style meant to blend with the setting. The district's period of significance ends in 1942, when that program stopped. The valley's development footprint from that year survives, and the district retains exceptional integrity as a long experiment in preserving a natural landscape through park management.","period_of_significance":"1850s-1942 (the form states 1942 as the end date; the start is described as the 1850s)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Bungalow/Craftsman; NPS Rustic","criteria":[],"status_note":"The valley remains a public park with its historic function and overall footprint intact. The Yosemite Lodge, Housekeeping Camp and campground areas have been redeveloped since 1942 and are non-contributing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.691005-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/04001159.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001159/2acca3e0ff-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001159/2acca3e0ff-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Almonroth","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LeConte_Memorial_Lodge.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Almonroth</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LeConte_Memorial_Lodge.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"77000160","name":"Yosemite Valley Bridges","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/california/yosemite-valley-bridges-77000160/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862313","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q97024916"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/mariposa-county/yosemite-valley-04001159/"}