Then and now: Zephyr Cove Resort dates to 1860s

Zephyr Cove Resort in the 1930s. Photo/Lake Tahoe Historical Society

Today’s Zephyr Cove Resort has roots dating back 150 years to the 1860s.

E.B. Scott described the first building (in his book “The Saga of Lake Tahoe”) as “…an ostentatious T-shaped hotel.” It became popular with travelers heading to Virginia City.

Zephyr Cove Resort in 2013. Photo/Bill Kingman

The early 1930s photo shows the later Zephyr Cove Store and gas pump. That store building has been enlarged and today includes a restaurant at its north end.

Millionaire George Whittell, who owned most of the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, added Zephyr Cove to his land holdings in 1938. As I recall, Tahoe Harrah’s briefly had a part in the resort’s operation in the mid-1960s.

Zephyr Cove Resort now is managed by Aramark Parks and Destinations by special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service.

— Bill Kingman