Glacier Point Road: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service
Sandy C, DuBarton A, Schaible D, Hammond J. 2007. Glacier Point Road: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 725341. NPS Pacific West Regional Office. Pacific West Regional Office/CLI Database
Glacier Point Road, located south of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park is a 16-mile stub road, beginning at Wawona Road at Chinquapin and ending at Glacier Point. The road is the primary visitor access to the spectacular views of the domes, pinnacles, and waterfalls in and around Yosemite Valley available from Glacier Point. As a historic district associated with early park transportation, naturalistic landscape design, and national park master planning, the Glacier Point Road historic district includes the 16-mile current road alignment as it was designed and built in the 1930s; remnant portions of the original Glacier Point Road alignment that help convey early road character and route characteristics; and the developed areas that the road accessed. The developed areas, including Glacier Point, Bridalveil Creek Campground, and Badger Pass Ski Area are identified as sites within the district whose contribution will be determined at a future point. Glacier Point Road exemplifies the naturalistic landscape design aesthetic of the NPS in the 1930s, and represents the initial burst of development of automobile roads in the national parks. The Glacier Point Road system embodies the ideas developed during the early history of the park regarding preserving natural and scenic beauty while providing access so that people could enjoy it. The old and new Glacier Point Roads, along with the sites they access, represent a system of park destinations and the means to reach them. The period of significance spans the years 1882-1936, reflecting the period when the first road to Glacier Point was built to the period when the NPS coordinated the design and construction of the “new” Glacier Point Road still in use today. The historic character of the road is evident in remaining landscape characteristics and features, including natural systems and features, spatial organization, topography, vegetation, land use, circulation, buildings and structures, views and vistas, small-scale features, and archeology. These patterns and their surviving features retain integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and continue to convey the historic significance of Glacier Point Road.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Sandy, Clare; DuBarton, Anne; Schaible, Daniel; Hammond, John
- Date of Issue
- 2007-09-04
- Publisher
- NPS Pacific West Regional Office
- Units
- PWR , YOSE
- Keywords
- automobile, Badger Pass Ski Area, Bridalveil Creek Campground, Chincapin, Glacier Point, Glacier Point Road, Historic Designed Landscape, Landscape architecture, Naturalistic Landscape Design, Recreation, Road-Related, Scenic Preservation, Tourism, Transportation
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 725341: Glacier Point Road (725341)