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Skateboarding, horse hoes and
basketball for the older kids, play
equipment for the younger.
Just minutes away from the Hotel

This stylish
I Survived Priest Grade
T-shirt is the perfect birthday,
holiday or
just because gift.
Come for a visit and pick
a few up or call us to order.
$15 for 1 or $25 for 2
Want to see what
Groveland
weather looks like today? Click
into a webcam mounted at the
Pine Mountain Lake Airport
John Muir spent a lot of time in
our area, Coulterville, Greeley
Hill. A few years ago a couple
walked his walk and entered
the details online. I have
enjoyed
reading their Muir
walk
story, and if you are
interested in history, you
might also.

Our lobby, draped in antique
quilts for the 2009 Quilt Festival |
Groveland was
originally a gold rush town and then became a sleepy farming community
until the San Francisco Hetch Hetchy water project made it their
headquarters and built a railroad yard and hospital for the work crews
(both now gone).
From 1915 till 1935 Groveland was a boom town supporting seven hotels,
10,000 residents and
much activity. When the work crews left the town again became a
minor stop on the way to Yosemite until the Boise Cascade company built
the Pine Mountain Lake
community with a first class golf course, an
airport and lake and staked out 5000 lots. This development has
since grown from a summer home area to a retirement community to a
thriving neighborhood with year round families, boosting the once sleepy Groveland
to a travel and vacation destination in its own right.
Groveland, while not a yet known
as a Mecca for bird watching does have its own chapter in the Audubon
Society and is involved in the annual Christmas Bird
Count. The community has approved use of 250 acres right around the
corner from the Hotel Charlotte to identify and inventory birds,
animals, plants, insects and a whole lot more. With two
photography viewing blinds, benches and picnic tables, and hopefully
motion sensitive cameras with recorders in addition to the miles of
walking trails this will be a fantastic addition to the community for
students and visitors alike.
In
town we have many fun little specialty shops, restaurants, a
museum,
library and more. For the best in hanging out, take along a good
book and try out the hammock garden (photo below)
found at Mountain Sage, the town nursery and plant supplier for the Hotel
Charlotte. Additional places to meander (and shop!) include Designing
Woman, Seasons, Perfectly Posh, Homemade the newly merged Away in
the Woods and Bunny Rose & Co, the quilt shoppe. The
Iron Door
Saloon is a locals favorite and has live bands on weekend nights and
Karaoke on Thursdays. And you won't want to miss the
Hotel Charlotte with daily wine tastings
from 11:30 am on, Lite Bites available too.
A first class skate board park
is just down the street from us at Mary Laveroni
Community Park. Kids and families visiting the Hotel
Charlotte should bring their boards and helmets for a great ride!
Dining
around Groveland is
diverse enough to please any pallet—young or old, from outdoor BBQ to
Pizza or Mexican. There are so many choices, we just set up a new page to
give each of the Groveland restaurants their little space on the website. Our own
Cafe Charlotte serves up a fresh blend of Mediterranean
dishes with flavors from around the world and kid pleasing portions to
vegetarian choices.
Roads around Groveland have
interesting names: Second Garrote, Hells Hollow, Priest Grade, Big Creek
Shaft and Old Ward's Ferry all speak to a different era. There is also
Hardin Flat, sometimes spelled Harden Flat Road, not far from the Big Oak
Flat entrance to Yosemite. But the famed oak was 27 miles away from the
gate—it must have been a fairly mighty oak to earn such renown! Buck Meadows has Hamilton
Station Loop and most folks there think they are in Groveland, Tuolumne
County, but they are not. They are in Mariposa county. For more information on the surrounding area
activities please check our About the Area
section and for special events, check our
Calendar
pages.

Visitors to Groveland are encouraged to swing in the
Hammock Garden
at Mountain Sage
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