James Hutchings

James Hutchings. . After bringing the first tourists to Yosemite Valley, James Hutchings established Hutchings House in 1864. Using the boardinghouse know-how of his mother-in-law, he and his wife launched a career as Yosemite innkeepers. Hutchings was a gracious host, whose charm made up for the lack of amenities in his hotel., Pioneer and Entrepreneur , James Hutchings built a family cabin directly in view of Yosemite Falls. It was located adjacent to the apple orchard he planted across the way, which still bears fruit after 150 years. Here, his family raised produce and livestock to feed the hotel guests. Where you are standing now, a smoke house once cured meat. , Photo captions: (top, right) James Hutchings (center) is pictured here with his son Willie and daughter Gertrude “Cosie” Hutchings, in front of their cabin, c. 1890; (bottom left) En route to the valley in 1902, Hutchings was killed in a carriage accident. You can visit the family burial site in the Pioneer Cemetery in Yosemite Village; (background) “Upstairs, the rooms (at Hutchings House) were only divided by pieces of cotton cloth and were very small in that... Fanny J’s soap slipped from her fingers when washing and flew into the parlor.” – A New England guest, June 1864; (bronze relief on left) Writer Helen Hunt Jackson called James Hutchings “an enthusiast, a dreamer, a visionary... all this is plainly to be seen in his mobile, artistic face, and in the affectionate ring of every word that he speaks of the Valley.”