Big Bear Lake’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 2 old photos of Big Bear Lake. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Big Bear Lake was inhabited by the indigenous Serrano people for over 2,000 years before it was explored by Benjamin Wilson and his party. Once populated by only the natives and the grizzly bears, from which the area received its name, the population of the Big Bear Valley grew rapidly during the Southern California gold rush from 1861 to 1912. Grizzly bears were not found in the region after 1908. Black bears have been in the region since their introduction in 1933, and they are sometimes sighted in residential areas.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Big Bear Lake’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Big Bear Lake’s history is told.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewBig Bear lake and dam, Calif, 1912: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Big Bear Lake
See all 5 →
Big Bear Lake, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Big Bear Lake is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Big Bear Lake has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Washington, Henry, Survey Marker in Oak Glen, 8.7 miles away.
Big Bear Lake and the nearest listed places
Closest to Big Bear Lake
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Big Bear lake and dam, Calif (1912) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6) and the Library of Congress (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.