History Sunday: The 1860s town of Rowlands on the South Shore

As the City of South Lake Tahoe celebrates the 50th anniversary of its incorporation, there is a long forgotten town that was once along the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Travelers came west in droves in 1849 after the discovery of gold near Placerville. Many used the Tahoe Wagon Road which is known as Pioneer Trail today. When the first major silver deposit in the United States was discovered in Virginia City in 1859, many of those same gold hunters traveled over that same road into Nevada.

While those pioneers weren't staying to enjoy a vacation as travelers do today, they did need supplies and sometimes a place to enjoy a bath and hot meal.

There was a spur of the Tahoe Wagon Road that led travelers to a hotel in what is now known as the Al Tahoe neighborhood. The spur left Pioneer Trail near where Hekpa Drive is today, followed along the Upper Truckee River, past where the airport is today. It crossed Highway 50 where Carson Avenue is, over the bridge at Trout Creek and proceeded to the present day Argonaut Way. Here it followed the meadow to within 100 feet of the lake to Bellevue Avenue. The Lake House was a hotel built here near the corner of Bellevue and Lily.

Built in 1859, the hotel thrived as people veered off the main wagon train trail along what later became the Rowlands short cut. Stagecoaches stopped here as did Mark Twain in 1863.

The Lake House burned down in 1866 and the land in this area was purchased in 1868 and renamed Rowlands, after the man, Thomas Rowlands, who purchased it.

The town of Rowlands built up and Thomas and his wife Saphrania rebuilt the hotel that same year and named it Rowlands Lake House and Station. The town contained Davis Brother's Market, Parrish's Blacksmith Shop, Alex Roop's Firkin Shop as well as several small cabins. Rowlands built the Custom House Saloon that went over the lake.

In 1879 the growing town brought in a school master by the name of Adelmorn Hargrave (A.H.) Goodrich. He and his wife Salina moved into the old cobbler shop after they restored it. A.H. also became the area's Justice of the Peace.

By 1886, most of the town of Rowlands had picked up and moved east to the settlement of Bijou. This new area had a lot more traffic and large scale lumber operations, so more customers for their businesses. The Rowlands Hotel collapsed under heavy snow in the winter of 1889-90. The lumber from the hotel and saloon was recycled and carried up to Fallen Leaf Lake to be used as the main dining room at the lodge.

Even though the town of Rowlands is now gone, the Goodrich home still remains. A.H and Salina's great-granddaughter Kathy Spangler now lives in the home with her husband Bill.

Kathy has great memories of being at the Tahoe house as a child. She could walk out of the house and end up at the lake (no houses or fences blocking her walk). She played with the Harootunian kids (Aram Harootunian developed the Al Tahoe neighborhood and his home remains at the corner of Bellevue and Lily Avenues) and would walk out on their pier to fish almost daily. (Years before the Tahoe Keys was created, Harootunian filled in the swamp that was between his home and the lake).

I was recently invited into the Spangler home to visit with Kathy and hear her stories of a time gone by. She enjoys her gardens and sharing the family history.
She brought out poster boards full of photos (what you see in this story) that were used during a Lake Tahoe Historical Society garden tour. Her mother had kept a large box of photos in the home, but a man who came by over 20 years ago to write a story borrowed them from Kathy's mom, and never returned them.

Her great-grandfather A.H.Goodrich is buried in the historic Al Tahoe cemetery on Alameda Avenue. Also there is Thomas Rowlands and his wife Saphrania.

The next time you drive down Lakeview Avenue, go all the way to Bellevue and take a left. The Spangler home is the cute green house on the left. What is now their driveway used to be the old Rowlands shortcut from the Tahoe Wagon Road. Remnants of this road are in another spot which will be the subject of another story.