Inyo County Airport

The Manzanar Children's Village was an orphanage for children of Japanese ancestry incarcerated during World War II as a result of Executive Order 9066, under which President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States. Contained within the Manzanar concentration camp in Owens Valley, California, it held a total of 101 orphans from June 1942 to September 1945.

Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II, from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, Manzanar was one of the smaller internment camps. It is located in California's Owens Valley, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, approximately 230 miles (370 km) north of Los Angeles. Manzanar means "apple orchard" in Spanish. The Manzanar National Historic Site, which preserves and interprets the legacy of Japanese American incarceration in the United States, was identified by the United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the ten former camp sites. The first Japanese Americans arrived at Manzanar in March 1942, just one month after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, to build the camp their families would be staying in. Manzanar was in operation as an internment camp from 1942 until 1945. Since the last of those incarcerated left in 1945, former detainees and others have worked to protect Manzanar and to establish it as a National Historic Site to ensure that the history of the site, along with the stories of those who were incarcerated there, is recorded for current and future generations. The primary focus is the Japanese American incarceration era, as specified in the legislation that created the Manzanar National Historic Site. The site also interprets the former town of Manzanar, the ranch days, the settlement by the Owens Valley Paiute, and the role that water played in shaping the history of the Owens Valley.

The 1872 Owens Valley earthquake – also known as the Lone Pine earthquake – struck on March 26 at 2:30 a.m. local time (10:30 UTC) in the Owens Valley (California, along the east side of the Sierra Nevada), with the epicenter near the town of Lone Pine. Its magnitude has been estimated at Mw 7.4 to 7.9, with a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (Extreme). It was one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit California in recorded history and was similar in strength to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Twenty-seven people were killed and fifty-six were injured.

Manzanar (Spanish for "apple orchard") was a town in Inyo County, California, founded by water engineer and land developer George Chaffey. Most notably, Manzanar is known for its role in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It was situated on the former narrow-gauge railway line of the Southern Pacific Railroad 9 miles (14 km) north of Lone Pine, at an elevation of 3,727 feet (1,136.0 m). A post office operated at Manzanar from 1911 to 1914. Manzanar was a shipping point for the surrounding apple orchards before the diversion of water through the Los Angeles Aqueduct from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles. During World War II, the area was the location of the Manzanar War Relocation Center, where people of Japanese ancestry were held.

San Carlos is a former settlement in Inyo County, California. It was founded in 1863 and was located on the east bank of the Owens River 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Independence, close by to the west of the later site of Kearsarge, California. Tensions in the area escalated as settlers from San Carlos, along with their cattle, exerted pressure on the Indigenous peoples inhabiting the region. In response to this encroachment on their land and resources, the Indigenous population took defensive actions, which included attacks on the town's residents. San Carlos and nearby Bend City competed to become the seat of the then Coso County. Several artifacts remain of San Carlos, including the ruins of stone buildings as well as old smelting tools.

Bend City is a former settlement in Inyo County, California. It was located on the Owens River near the modern-day town of Kearsarge. Founded in the 1863, Bend City was originally a mining camp. Bend City was the site of the first county bridge spanning the Owens River. The 1872 Lone Pine earthquake changed the course of the river away from the townsite, which had already declined. The site is now registered as California Historical Landmark #209.

Gabanes is a village located in the Valle de Tobalina, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain. It is one of the 28 villages that make up the Polish Valley.

Owens Valley (Mono: Payahǖǖnadǖ, meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada, west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains, and is split between the Great Basin Desert and the Mojave Desert. The mountain peaks on its west side (including Mount Whitney) reach above 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in elevation, while the floor of the Owens Valley is at about 4,000 feet (1,200 m), making the valley the deepest in the United States. The Sierra Nevada casts the valley in a rain shadow, which makes Owens Valley "the Land of Little Rain". The bed of Owens Lake, now a predominantly dry endorheic alkali flat, sits on the southern end of the valley. The current arid nature of the valley is mostly due to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power diverting the water of the region. The valley provides water to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the source of one-third of the water for the city, and was at the center of one of the fiercest and longest-running episodes of the California Water Wars. Owens Lake was completely emptied by 1926, only 13 years after Los Angeles began diverting water. The water diversions inspired aspects of the 1974 film Chinatown. Towns in the Owens Valley include Bishop, Lone Pine, Independence and Big Pine; about 25,000 people live in the valley. The major road in the Owens Valley is U.S. Route 395.

The Inyo County Courthouse, on N. Edwards St. in Independence, California, was designed by architect William H. Weeks in Classical Revival style, and was built in 1922. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. It is significant for association with "economic and political development" of the Owens Valley and for housing county government during 1921–1947. It is the only example of "monumental, Neo-Classical Revival architecture" in the Owens Valley area. According to its NRHP nomination "This elaborately designed building represents the peak of local autonomy in the Owens Valley, before the City of Los Angeles purchased the majority of land in the valley, including most of the land within the county seat. Water development policies adopted by the City of Los Angeles after 1924 led ultimately to the destruction of irrigated agriculture, and the virtual depopulation of the Owens Valley." The courthouse cornerstone was laid down in 1922. It was the fourth courthouse of the county, and replaced a version that was too small and was torn down after the present courthouse was built. Weeks was very experienced as an architect; he had designed more than 1,000 buildings already by 1915. Charles Manson was held at the Inyo County Court House in October of 1969. 23 members of his Manson Family were also held at the Inyo County Courthouse from October to December in 1969. Manson and others were officially charged with the Tate and LaBianca murders before being transported to Los Angeles County. A 2009 feasibility study for the building of new courthouse facilities identifies the building as inadequate for modern purposes, being deficient in terms of security and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility. It notes the court has been obliged to offer court services in leased annex space a half-mile away, to provide a minimally ADA accessible location for some court proceedings. A facilities planning site of the state of California identifies the potential project as having authorization to proceed with site acquisition, but no budget for development until at least 2014–15.

The Eastern California Museum is a history and heritage museum in Independence, California. It was founded in 1928 and showcases the history of the region of Eastern California. It is operated by Inyo County.

Reward was a mining site in Inyo County, California. It is located on the west side of the Inyo Mountains 9.5 miles (15 km) north of Lone Pine, at an elevation of 3865 feet (1178 m). A post office operated at Reward from 1900 to 1906. The town's name originates from a local mining company, Reward Consolidated Mining Co, who operated the gold and silver Eclipse Mine in 1878 at the site.

Independence Airport (FAA LID: 2O7) is a public airport located one mile (1.6 km) north of Independence, serving Inyo County, California, United States. It has two runways and is mostly used for general aviation. The airport is a base for the Bureau of Land Management when fighting wildfires in the Eastern Sierra.