Ahwahnee Slate

When The Ahwahnee was being built in 1927, the architect, Gilbert Stanley Underwood, said he designed the hotel to “last as long as the granite walls of Yosemite Valley.”

To facilitate Underwood's plan, The Ahwahnee's roof was made of slate. While this proved a durable roofing material, it wasn't invulnerable to the almost daily assault of bits of granite from the nearby north wall of Yosemite Valley.

Following our historic preservation ethic, new slate was quarried from the same site in Vermont from which the original was mined, and used in the recent 66,000 square foot roof rehabilitation. The old slate roofing was carefully removed, and select surviving pieces are now available as souvenirs to Ahwahnee devotees. Since each item is made of a natural material, each has a patina and characteristics that make it unique. Get one while you can, because it will be another 75 years before we undertake another roofing project!