Last updated: December 19, 2024
Article
Meyer Orchard
NPS Archive
Jonny Bartlett
The Meyer Orchard, planted between 1873 and the early 1880s, was part of the Meyer Ranch. The ranch was the last stop before entering Yosemite on the Coulterville Road, the first wagon road into the park. The apples went to stores and hotels inside the park and were made into cider.
The Meyer Orchard sits within the Big Meadow area. The elevation and expanse of the meadow made it a desirable place for habitation and acorn harvesting by indigenous people. Big Meadow is a culturally significant site for the indigenous people of the area who call it “O’Pim” and lived there long before European American settlement and the formation of Yosemite National Park. The meadow was a busy acorn gathering ground in mid-autumn when the temperature was warmer than higher elevations. The black oaks provide an important food source, which can be stored through the winter. Archeological studies found evidence of many prehistoric features, including several villages in the area.
A new form of food production and harvesting came to Foresta and Big Meadow with European American settlement. Two German immigrants, John D. Meyer and John Peter van der Mieson purchased the “squatter’s rights” to Big Meadow in 1873 from a Native American who was living there. John Meyer’s brother George acquired his brother’s interest in the property. The men quickly turned the meadow into a ranching operation with the introduction of cattle, hogs, and crops such as alfalfa, hay, barley, and potatoes. They also planted an orchard with multiple apple cultivars.
At the same time, the Coulterville Road, the first wagon road into Yosemite Valley, was being constructed right along Meyer Ranch. The new toll road supported the burgeoning tourist industry, and the Meyer Ranch was positioned to provide hospitality to park visitors. In 1875, the Meyer Ranch began collecting tolls, providing services for horses, and meals for travelers. The food produced on the property was also sold to the stores and hotels in Yosemite Valley.
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As Yosemite National Park formed around the ranch property, the Meyers retained ownership as inholders and were able to continue ranching and farming. Elizabeth and George’s son Horace ran the ranch into the 1960s. The National Park Service acquired the ranch in 1973 and has since managed and preserved it as an important cultural landscape from the period of homesteading and early tourism in Yosemite.
An inventory of the orchard completed in 2016-2017 showed that 28 apple trees and one plum thicket remained. Genetic testing of the apple trees in the Meyer Orchard revealed the historic significance of the collection. Over a dozen wellknown varieties from the mid- 1800s are present. Three trees in the orchard may be some of the last remaining specimens of rare apple cultivars.
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