History and Culture

Get better acquainted with artistic legacy during your Yosemite vacation by visiting the Ansel Adams Gallery and galleries of basket making and painting.

Co-director Pete Mortimer shares stories of his documentary The Dawn Wall, which follows one of Yosemite's favorite climbers, Tommy Caldwell, up a sheer face.

Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, who decided that what Yosemite needed was a first-class hotel to attract wealthy, politically powerful, and celebrity clientele to the park.

Bodie is a ghost town in the Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Yosemite. Today Bodie is a State Historical Park and landmark open to visitors.

Early tourists made the long journey overland to see its natural wonders, from the to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias and the views from Glacier Point.

Yosemite is the wild, wild West. From its earliest Native American inhabitants, to the mid-19th-century California Gold Rush, and the later arrival of ranchers, loggers, and hoteliers, the land surrounding Yosemite National Park is amazingly rich in historical sites.

Naturalist and conservationist John Muir wrote prolifically about his experiences in the Sierra Nevada, including time spent living in Yosemite Valley

Shanelle Saunders, acting fire information officer and lead firefighter on the Wawona Engine Module for Yosemite, shares why fires are good for the forest.

Pull back the curtains of history from the Miwok people to the establishment of the national park.

Soar past Yosemite’s Half Dome and over Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring in National Parks Adventure, an awe-inspiring salute to the NPS’s 100th anniversary.

The John Muir Geotourism Center, now closed, had a mission to enrich the natural and rural communities by inspiring people to explore, learn, share and preserve the values of the John Muir Legacy through innovative and creative programs.

A camping trip with President Roosevelt and Muir led to an explosion of wilderness protection across the country and a push to make Yosemite a national park.

Gold minors became the first outsiders to make contact with the Sierra Nevada's indigenous peoples since Spanish explorers and it caused conflict.

In the Sierra Nevada, most of the archaeological evidence of indigenous peoples in the Yosemite consists of grinding holes made in rocks.

We asked the Superintendent of Yosemite National Park to take a look back over the last 100 years and forward to the next 100 years.

"Off the Wall" recounts the various ways that visitors have met unfortunate ends in Yosemite, one of America's most seductively beautiful outdoor destinations.

At the History Center you can ride horse-drawn wagons, walk across a covered bridge, and visit historic buildings out of Yosemite's past.

Yosemite National Park’s Mammoth Peak may be renamed in honor of 19th century female preservationist Jessie Benton Fremont. The measure would be a tribute to a woman who worked doggedly to preserve the land that would become Yosemite in 1890.

Yosemite ranger Shelton Johnson brings to life the stories of the Black soldiers who served as the park’s first rangers.

An antiques collector uncovers a box of glass negatives that may, or may not, have been taken by Ansel Adams himself.

Liz and Royal Robbins followed a trail in Yosemite National Park which led to the creation of an exceptional outdoor & travel clothing line.

The Sierra Nevada region abounds in historical sites.

All aboard for an exciting four-mile scenic excursion through the Sierra National Forest on the restored railroad used for the Madera Sugar Pine’s logging trains.

Clark was famous for his hospitality, at first running a stagecoach rest stop called Clark's Station, where tourists could get meals, stay overnight, and water and feed their horses. Even when his business failed, Clark remained active in Yosemite, guiding visitors and serving as its guardian until 1897.

Take a minute to find out what some of Yosemite's famous place names mean, and you'll uncover valuable nuggets of the park's history