Accommodations for guests at Colter Bay Village, where we live and work, consist of 166 rustic cabins, an RV Campground with 112 sites (where Paul works) with full hookups (water, electric, & sewer) and a campground with 250 sites (where Ann now works) with no hookups.
Ann began this season working at the Cabin Office, checking guests in and out of the rustic cabins. Rustic means no TV's or radios, phones, AC, mini frigs, etc. which we come to expect as standard, even at budget hotels.
There are 166 log cabins ranging in size from rooms in a cabin with a bath shared with other guests up to a 2-bedroom cabin with a private bath. The history of these cabins tells a unique tale about the early west and the development of tourism in the valley.
In 1927 John D. Rockefeller formed the Snake River Land Company and began buying over 35,000 acres of land he later donated to the U. S. Government. He wanted the visitors of the future to see the Tetons and the valley floor as close to a pristine state that once existed.
Rockefeller also wanted tourists to have a more cost-effective place to stay as compared to Jackson Lake Lodge, which was being built 5 miles to the south of Colter Bay.
Rockefeller's plan included moving 166 of these structures from various dude ranches, homestead cabins, a complex of cabins in Moran for tourists (a 1930 motel if you will), and some from movie sets filmed here in the valley, to Colter Bay Village. Some of these cabins date back to the late 1880's. The remainder of the structures on Rockefeller's land were burned to the ground.
Mary McKinney, a local historian, gives historic talks several times a week about these cabins. Mary is standing on the porch of #471. This is the only cabin with a porch in Colter Bay. Notice how the corners of the logs are all cut flush. The gray filler between the logs was all redone when the cabins were moved. This filler is called chinking.
Ann began this season working at the Cabin Office, checking guests in and out of the rustic cabins. Rustic means no TV's or radios, phones, AC, mini frigs, etc. which we come to expect as standard, even at budget hotels.
There are 166 log cabins ranging in size from rooms in a cabin with a bath shared with other guests up to a 2-bedroom cabin with a private bath. The history of these cabins tells a unique tale about the early west and the development of tourism in the valley.
In 1927 John D. Rockefeller formed the Snake River Land Company and began buying over 35,000 acres of land he later donated to the U. S. Government. He wanted the visitors of the future to see the Tetons and the valley floor as close to a pristine state that once existed.
Rockefeller also wanted tourists to have a more cost-effective place to stay as compared to Jackson Lake Lodge, which was being built 5 miles to the south of Colter Bay.
Rockefeller's plan included moving 166 of these structures from various dude ranches, homestead cabins, a complex of cabins in Moran for tourists (a 1930 motel if you will), and some from movie sets filmed here in the valley, to Colter Bay Village. Some of these cabins date back to the late 1880's. The remainder of the structures on Rockefeller's land were burned to the ground.
Mary McKinney, a local historian, gives historic talks several times a week about these cabins. Mary is standing on the porch of #471. This is the only cabin with a porch in Colter Bay. Notice how the corners of the logs are all cut flush. The gray filler between the logs was all redone when the cabins were moved. This filler is called chinking.
Paul is standing in the doorway of a cabin built for John Wayne's first movie, "The Big Trail", which was filmed in Jackson Hole in 1930. In contrast to the cabin above, notice how the corner has a more finished look.
These log buildings today stand as the proud remnants of the society which first settled in the valley.
I remember my Snake River rafting trip last October. Good times!
ReplyDelete