Those looking for a truly unique Grand Canyon vacation experience, but who may be less-than-thrilled at the prospect of camping outdoors, may want to consider the Bright Angel Lodge. It is located inside of Grand Canyon National Park, right on the rim of the Canyon itself and boasts a rich history which parallels the development of the Canyon as a tourist destination. The truly “rustic” southwest vibe of Bright Angel Lodge is only enhanced by its fascinating story.
A Brief History of Bright Angel Lodge
The earliest records of tourist buildings on the south rim of the Grand Canyon date back to 1896 when James Thurber constructed a small, wood-framed hotel at the head of the Bright Angel Trail near his Grandview stagecoach line stop. At around the same time, Buckey O’Neil built a similar set-up consisting of a main cabin and series of tents for his visitors to use. After O’Neil’s death, Thurber acquired his buildings and sold them to local Arizona hotelier Martin Buggeln who further developed the site to coincide with the opening of the Grand Canyon Railroad. Buggeln build the El Tovar Hotel immediately to the east of the lodge and replaced O’Neil’s tents with basic wooden cabins throughout the first decade of the 20th century.
The area around the South Rim remained largely this way until the 1930s when increased tourist interest in the area highlighted the need for renovation and modernization, specifically focusing on accommodations for the rising middle class. The National Park Service asked female architect, Mary Jane Colter, who also designed the Phantom Ranch buildings at the Canyon’s base, to spearhead the project. Familiar with the area and its culture, Colter’s painstakingly integrated the design of her wooden buildings with the Canyon’s unique landscape features, even using a scale model of the area to ensure accuracy. In addition to the main lodge, Colter also redesigned the individual cabins located on the property, but chose to keep O’Neil’s original structure as well as another, Red Horse Cabin, built by Ralph Cameron in 1902.
Bright Angel Lodge Today
Today, Bright Angle Lodge remains a centerpiece of the South Rim area and is the starting point for the famous Grand Canyon mule rides. Accented by a shallow-pitched gable roof, gabled porch, and peeled log posts, the lodge exudes a uniquely southwest feel. Colter also carefully considered the interior finishes of the building, utilizing limestone, adobe, and hand-adzed logs from the area which remain in place, even after a 2007 renovation of the facilities. There is a large fireplace in the main lodge which carefully recreates the strata of the Canyon from top to bottom along nearby Bright Angel trail.
Bright Angel Lodge accommodations are rustic, with some rooms still sharing bathroom facilities just as they did in the old days. In addition, semi-detached cabins, which make up majority of the bedroom space, run from the main lodge to the rim of the Canyon itself and many of them offer direct views of the rim. Visitors to Grand Canyon National Park are welcome to view the lodge and its interior, whether they stay overnight or not. There are also two restaurants located inside the main lodge, one family style and the other more formal, called The Arizona Room. In the warmer months, there is also an old-fashioned ice cream fountain.
