The Wawona Hotel is one of the oldest mountain resort hotels in California, and a classic of Victorian era resort design. The Victorian style hotel was built in 1876 to serve tourists visiting the nearby Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. As tourism increased, through 1916, the hotel built additional rooms and facilities. In addition, it cut more forest trails, as well as paths along the south fork of the Merced River. The Wawona Hotel is located from the park's south entrance, between the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees and the Yosemite Valley. It is one of the fewhistorical period hotels still standing within Yosemite National Park's boundaries. Most of the hotel's 104 guestrooms open onto one of the Wawona Hotel's deep verandas, which wrap around the first and second floors; they have open views of the gardened and natural landscapes. The hotel includes six historically distinctive buildings, built between 1876 and 1916. The rooms are furnished with antiques, period pieces, and vintage elements. The hotel has no telephones or televisions in the guestrooms. Outdoor recreation choices include quiet nature walks or scenic drives, and when snow arrives, nearby cross-country and downhill skiing and snowshoe routes. Across from the hotel is a nine-hole, par 35 golf course, Yosemite Park's only such facility. It is one of few within any U.S. National Park. The course is open daily from spring to fall, weather permitting. In operation since 1918, the golf course is the oldest in the Sierra Nevada. The hotel is featured prominently in the 1964 motion picture36 Hours. On March 1, 2016, the Wawona Hotel was renamed Big Trees Lodge due to a legal dispute between the US Government, which owns the property, in conjunction with the new concessionaire, Aramark, and the outgoing concessionaire, Delaware North, which claimed rights to the trademarked name. The hotel regained its historic name on July 15, 2019, when a settlement was reached in the dispute.
, a renowned landscape painter of the Hudson River School, stayed at the Wawona Hotel toward the end of his life. He used the hotel pavilion as his painting studio and completed numerous works of the region. This is listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places.
