175th Anniversary Heritage Quilt: Historic Hotels
- Kathy Brown
- Aug 6
- 5 min read
By Kathy Brown, Groveland Yosemite Gateway Museum/Southern Tuolumne County Historical Society
For such a small town, Groveland seems to have had more than its share of hotels along Main Street to serve the public since its Gold Rush origin. At least three early hotels once standing on Main Street were torn down long ago - the Washington (Savory), the Schroeder, and the Baird. (See previous articles Ghosts of Hotels Past Part 1 and Part 2, Oct. 2021; A Sidewalk Memorial, June 2021.)
Two historic inns, the Groveland Hotel and Hotel Charlotte, along with their restaurants, still remain. They help preserve Groveland’s past, contribute to its pioneer town look, and offer residents and travelers from around the world a charming connection to local history. Both hotels are represented in the heritage quilt to be auctioned at the ‘49er Festival.
The Groveland Hotel has been a survivor of this town’s many booms and busts for 175 years. Its long and colorful history make the hotel very deserving of its designation on the National Register of Historic Places. The core of the building is one of only four surviving adobe structures in Groveland. Built in 1850 with a slate wall foundation and stacked adobe brick walls above, it first served as the trading post of Joshua Crippen and Co. Records show it was then used as a “dwelling house” until being deeded in 1866 to Matthew Foot under whom it became the Garrote Hotel. Its name changed to the Groveland Hotel about 1875 when Garrote adopted a new name. In 1882 H.O. Lang wrote that Matthew Foot’s hotel-keeping was “…being carried on in a way highly acceptable to the traveling public,” indicating its use by early tourist traffic to Yosemite. In 1883 Thomas R. Reid purchased and began operating the Groveland Hotel. Reid was already owner, after his father, of the Savory (Washington Hotel) which he had razed in 1886.
In 1900 the Meyers family owned and operated the hotel. They added a bar and dance hall to the west side. An ad in the Tuolumne Prospector read, “Groveland Hotel and Bar have been newly furnished throughout, everything strictly First Class.”
In 1915 Tim Carlon, Tuolumne County’s “first millionaire cattleman,” purchased the hotel. He added a large two-story wood-frame annex with balconies on the east side, giving it today’s appearance. The first floor of the original adobe was then made into a restaurant. At that time the building was used mainly by Hetch Hetchy workers for housing and offices. In the late 1910s and “roaring ‘20s” the hotel was known for its parties and dances, and as a “sporting house” with everything from gambling to “working girls.” Like many other businesses with bars, Carlon entered into a lease at the hotel for a “soft drink parlor” during the Prohibition era.
The Great Depression and the completion of the Hetch Hetchy project left Groveland nearly a ghost town. Carlon sold the sad old hotel in 1935 and it was closed for periods as it went through a series of foreclosures from 1935 - 1990. During this time the hotel wore many faces - a Greyhound Bus stop in the 1940s, Boise Cascade office complex for real estate agents and professionals involved in the development of Pine Mountain Lake in 1969 - early 70s, and Groveland Ranger District Headquarters for Stanislaus National Forest in 1973 - 1986.
The building was rescued from another foreclosure in 1990 by Peggy and Grover Mosley. It took two years, a lot of personal hard work, and a million dollars to restore the old hotel’s character. The original stone foundation walls became a perfect spot for the hotel’s very complete wine cellar. Since Peggy Mosley’s death it has had several different owners each trying to preserve its history. Doesn’t every historic hotel need a ghost? Lyle, the ghost of an old blasting expert who died in room #15, is said by some guests to move their belongings, straighten up rooms and eerily dim the lights.
Groveland’s Hotel Charlotte is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This two- story wood and concrete building with overhanging awning and balcony sits on the north side of Groveland’s main street. Its construction in 1921 helped meet the need for housing for workers on San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy water project that built O’Shaughnessy Dam and the gravity-fed pipeline to the City.
Charlotte De Ferrari was born January 1883. She arrived in California from Italy in about 1900 along with her mother and brothers. Her father, who had come to this area years earlier to mine, died in 1886 before his family’s arrival in a mining cave-in. Charlotte began running a tiny restaurant in wooden building on the east side Iron Door Saloon which later became a barber shop. Her uncle Jake De Ferrari owned the saloon at that time and backed Charlotte in her venture. By 1917 Charlotte was cooking for Hetch Hetchy workers, ranch hands and residents at her New Hetch Hetchy Restaurant built just west of Iron Door Saloon. About 1918 Charlotte’s Hetch Hetchy restaurant closed and she was running the Groveland Hotel cafe.
She began looking for a place to build a hotel to meet the great need of housing at that time and found a lot where the Washington Hotel and its livery stable had once stood from 1850s - 1880s. In 1921 she hire Frank Ferretti to build a two-story hotel on the site. Charlotte, who never married, was on her way to becoming one of Groveland’s most independent businesswomen, maintaining her hotel from 1921 - 1948.
Like many restaurant owners during the Prohibition years, she covertly served alcohol, almost a must in a construction town. She is said to have made bath-tub gin under her back steps and served it from a tea pot. In 1921 she was fined $400 for doing so. About 1925 she bought the building immediately to the west of her hotel, a cash store that had once been the Gem Saloon. It became her restaurant which she rebuilt in 1928. Charlotte’s famous chicken and ravioli Sunday dinners became a tradition that lasted throughout her ownership.
After the 1934 completion of the Hetch Hetchy project many of the hotels and restaurants in the Groveland area closed as project workers left town, but Charlotte’s hotel and restaurant continued in business. Local residents and tourists to Yosemite appreciated Charlotte’s warm hospitality. Her 50 cent steak dinner with coffee and pie helped her survive the Depression era. In the late 1930s Charlotte was well known for the midnight ravioli dinners she hosted after popular weekend dances in the nearby social hall.
The hotel has had a series of owners since Charlotte’s 1948 retirement. They have done some renovation but have maintained the building’s frontier town appearance and homey atmosphere which has helped it survive for more than 100 years. The Hotel Charlotte and its restaurant continue to serve local residents and travelers from around the world. It is rumored that Charlotte De Ferrari, who passed away in 1970, still roams the halls of her hotel.
