Curry Orchard

Cars parked in Curry Orchard in 1927, the year it was converted to a parking area. NPS Archive

Cars and tents in Curry orchard in 1965. NPS

Orchard History

Curry Orchard, which was planted in 1860 by the first European American homesteader in Yosemite Valley, James Lamon, now serves as a parking lot for visitors to Curry Village. The orchard is a resilient remnant of the brief colonial agricultural period in the valley prior to the establishment of the national park.

The Yosemite Valley has long been the homeland of indigenous people who actively managed and cultivated black oak woodlands to collect acorns as an important and culturally significant food source. They lit fires in the valley to prevent pine and cedar saplings from encroaching and overshadowing the oaks and clear the way for acorn collection. US expansion into Yosemite Valley violently upset this way of life and ushered in a new era of fruit production.

James Lamon, the first European American settler to establish a homestead in Yosemite Valley, planted Curry Orchard in 1860. It was planted one year after Lamon orchard and provided apples to local businesses, fellow residents, and early tourists. Lamon continued to maintain the orchard while living in the valley up until the time of his death in 1875.

Curry orchard in 1970. NPS

In 1899 David and Jennie Curry leased the property next to the orchard. The couple from Indiana set up a tourist camp with tents for lodging and meals for their guests. Over the next few decades the Curry family continued their lease and expanded operations to include a dining hall, bath­house, registration office, swimming pool, auditorium, bowling alley, and men’s lounge and billiard room.

Curry orchard during the winter. NPS

The Curry Orchard remained through these years, witnessing the establishment of Yosemite National Park in 1906 and the opening of the All-Year Highway in 1926 (El Portal Road). The new road improved access for automotive travel, and visitation boomed. By this point the Currys had merged their business with another operation to become the Yosemite Park and Curry Company. As vehicle visitation increased, they pushed for a new parking area near Curry Village. Plans were drawn up in 1927 by the Frederick Law Olm­sted Jr. landscape architecture firm to locate the new parking area in Curry Orchard by removing every third row of apple trees. The orchard was altered from its original form but retained the majority of apple trees. Visitors to Curry Village will find this same parking area intermingled with historic apple trees today.

Genetic testing in 2016 and 2017 was completed on 88 trees and showed that a range of apple tree types are original to the orchard. The majority of trees represent known historic varieties, popular in the 1860s. Eleven exceptional trees stand as some of the last living examples of rare, cultivated varieties from the 1800s. Curry Orchard contributes to the Yosemite Valley Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Apple Cultivars Found in Curry Orchard

Ben Davis, Esopus Sptizenburg/Kaighn’s Spitzenburg, Green­ing/Rhode Island Greening, Jonathan, King, Maiden’s Blush, Northern Spy, Pumpkin Sweet, Red Westfield Seek-no-Further, Roxbury Russet, Talman Sweet, Wagener, Whitney Russet, Seed Savers Exchange Baldwin, Seed Savers Exchange Swaar, and Seed Savers Exchange Smith’s Cider

See the complete list of apple cultivars growing in Yosemite National Park

A comprehensive design plan from 1986 shows the layout of the parking area within Curry Orchard. NPS Archive

Part of a series of articles titled
Historic Orchards in Yosemite National Park.

Previous:
Historic Apple Cultivars in Yosemite National Park

Next:
Galen Clark and Washburn Orchards

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