Pine Mountain Lake, California

Groveland-Big Oak Flat is an unincorporated community and former census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California, United States. The population was 3,388 at the 2000 census. This CDP included the communities of Groveland, Big Oak Flat and Pine Mountain Lake (PML).The CDP was abolished prior to the 2010 census, and Groveland and Pine Mountain Lake were made into separate CDPs. The town hosts an annual 49er Festival on the 3rd Saturday of September, hosted by the Yosemite Chamber of Commerce, [1]. Groveland is the location of the Groveland Ranger District office of the Stanislaus National Forest. The Groveland Community Services District provides services, including fire protection, to the community . The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Tuolumne-Calaveras Ranger Unit, Battalion 16, has a Forest Fire Station west of Groveland on State Route 120.

Second Garrotte (also spelled Garrote) is a ghost town located near Groveland in Tuolumne County, California originally settled during the California Gold Rush. The site of Second Garrote is a California Historical Landmark, No. 460 listed on May 9, 1950. It lies at an elevation of 2,894 feet (882 meters) in Second Garrotte Basin.The town was named after a nearby hanging tree, where according to local lore as many as thirty men were said to have been hanged. Certain contemporary accounts from miners and settlers in the area suggest only two men were hung at Second Garrotte, a pair of thieves caught stealing gold dust from a sluice box. John Chaffee and Jason Chamberlain, early settlers at Second Garrotte who owned the property on which the hanging tree stood, denied any hangings took place.The nearby town of Groveland was originally known as First Garrotte, named after an earlier hanging at that town.The historical location of Second Garrote is at 20450 Old State Route 120, 2.4 miles Southeast of Groveland. The marker was placed there by the California Centennials Commission working with Charles G. Hall Post No. 3668 V.F.W. on September 15, 1950. California Historical Landmark number 460 reads: NO. 460 SECOND GARROTE - A sizable settlement was established at this rich placer location in 1849 by miners spreading east from Big Oak Flat and Groveland. The famous hangman's tree, part of which still stands (1950), is reported to have been instrumental in the death of a number of lawbreakers during the heyday of this locality.

The Groveland Hotel, at 18767 Main St. (CA 120) in Groveland, California, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.The Groveland Hotel was built in 1850 as a two-story 44 by 44 feet (13 m × 13 m) adobe building. In 1915 a Hotel Annex was built as a wood-frame building. The hotel annex was designed by architect Woodward Withered and constructed by Robert Scudamore, builder.It has also been known as the Garrote Hotel and as the Groveland Inn & Cafe.

The Hotel Charlotte, at 18736 Main St. (CA 120) in Groveland, California was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.The listing includes the Hotel Charlotte building, originally 30 by 36 feet (9.1 m × 11.0 m) in plan plus an L-shaped rear porch, which was later enclosed and expanded. The second contributing building in the listing is the Charlotte Hotel Restaurant, a one-story wood-frame building about 20 by 41.5 feet (6.1 m × 12.6 m) in plan. Both were constructed by builder Frank Ferretti.

The Hotel Charlotte, also known as Hotel Charlotte & Cafe or Hotel Charlotte & Restaurant, is a hotel opened in 1921 in Groveland, California. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.Charlotte DeFerrari, the hotel's namesake and builder, was born in Genoa, Italy in 1881. Her family migrated to the California gold fields when DeFerrari was sixteen. During this era, the Groveland area went from boom to bust and back again. The gold rush and then the San Francisco Hetch-Hetchy water project brought prosperity and notoriety to the Groveland and Big Oak Flat settlements. Shortly after arriving in Groveland, DeFerrari's father was killed in a mining accident at Hardin Flat, and young DeFerrari took it upon herself to support and hold the family together. She began cooking for work crews, ranch hands and several local settlers. She then opened a restaurant in the building that is now the Iron Door Saloon, claimed by its proprietors to be the oldest continuously operating saloon in California. In 1918, DeFerrari built the hotel on the site of an old livery stable, and in 1921 she purchased the Gem Saloon next door, annexing it to the Hotel Charlotte as a restaurant.

Groveland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California. Groveland sits at an elevation of 3,136 feet (956 m). The 2020 United States census reported Groveland's population was 540.Groveland was created as a CDP prior to the 2010 census; previously it was part of Groveland-Big Oak Flat CDP.

The North Fork Tuolumne River is a 35.7-mile (57.5 km) long river in the central Sierra Nevada of Tuolumne County, California and is a major tributary of the Tuolumne River. It originates above the Dodge Ridge Ski Area about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Pinecrest, in the Stanislaus National Forest. From there it flows generally southwest, past Long Barn, Twaine Harte, Soulsbyville and Tuolumne. Below Long Barn the river flows through a narrow canyon on its way to join the Tuolumne River, at the head of Lake Don Pedro Reservoir, about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Groveland.Like the Clavey River, which flows about parallel to the North Fork several miles to the east and also drains into the Tuolumne River, the North Fork is one of only a few Sierra foothill streams that are undisturbed by major dams or diversions. However, the Turlock Irrigation District has sought at times to dam the North Fork and the Clavey for hydropower generation.The lower 7.8 miles (12.6 km) of the North Fork is a class V whitewater run from Riverside Campground to the Tuolumne River. Due to the small watershed of the river, it is typically only boatable after heavy rain.

The Gamble Building and Miner's Bean Kettle in Big Oak Flat, California was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.The listing included two contributing buildings on 0.3 acres (0.12 ha). It is located at 17544 California State Route 120. The Gamble Building, built around 1850, is a stone structure about 64 by 56 feet (20 m × 17 m) in plan; among other uses, it was once a Wells Fargo office. A one-room jail is attached to its northwest corner. The Miner's Bean Kettle, built around 1870, was a woodframe building attached to the south wall of the jail; it had been used as a residence, post office, and restaurant. The Bean Kettle was dismantled in 2014 by its owner, the Southern Tuolumne County Historical Society, on approval of the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors. It had deteriorated beyond repair and was no longer safe to enter. The Society preserved the pieces of the demolished Bean Kettle for use in a reconstruction or a historical display.

Priest, also known as Priest Station or Priest's Station, is an unincorporated locality 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, California. It is the eastern terminus of the New Priest Grade and the Old Priest Grade. The site was established as a stagecoach stop and hotel in 1849; the hotel did good business until it was destroyed in a wildfire in 1926. A motel was later built on the site, replaced by a store and cafe in 2007.

The Rim Fire was a massive wildfire that started in a remote canyon in the Stanislaus National Forest in California's Tuolumne County. The fire ignited on August 17, 2013, amid the 2013 California wildfire season, and burned 257,314 acres (402 sq mi; 104,131 ha; 1,041 km2) in largely remote areas of the Sierra Nevada, including a large portion of Yosemite National Park. The Rim Fire was fully contained on Thursday, October 24, 2013, after a nine-week suppression effort by firefighters. Due to a lack of winter rains, some logs smoldered in the interior portion of the fire footprint throughout the winter, and more than a year passed before the fire was declared totally extinguished in November 2014. The fire was caused by a hunter's illegal fire that got out of control, and it was named for its proximity to the Rim of the World vista point, a scenic overlook on Highway 120 leading up to Yosemite. A total of 112 structures—largely outbuildings—were destroyed in the fire. During suppression efforts, which cost more than $127 million (2013 USD), a total of ten injuries from the wildfire were reported, but there were no fatalities. The Rim Fire grew to be (at the time) the third-largest wildfire in California's recorded history and the largest recorded in the Sierra Nevada. As of 2023, the Rim Fire was California's 11th-largest recorded wildfire.

The Tuolumne City Memorial Museum preserves the history of this mining and logging town on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in California. Exhibits trace the area's history going back to early Miwok Indian culture, early agricultural endeavors, gold mining, and the extensive logging operations of the West Side Lumber Company.Tuolumne, which was originally known as Summerville, and later Carters, was the site of the West Side's large sawmill, which operated from 1899 until the 1960s, when it burned during a labor strike. The company also operated an extensive narrow-gauge railroad into the Sierra to bring logs to the mill. Standard-gauge tracks of the well-known Sierra Railroad came to Tuolumne to take finished lumber to market.Some trestles and other remnants of the logging railroad still exist, and the museum organizes annual field trips into the woods to visit such sites.The museum has a number of exhibits chronicling the lives of prominent citizens of the area, including a collection of family Bibles and historic cemetery records.

Tuolumne City ( ) is an unincorporated town in Tuolumne County, California. A census-designated place (CDP) officially known as Tuolumne also encompasses the town. The population of the CDP was 1,779 at the 2010 census, down from 1,865 at the 2000 census.