Join us as we celebrate Idyllwild’s early beginnings of the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s. From the first Native Americans to the first settlers who braved the treacherous climb to our beautiful mountain top, we hope to capture that by-gone era and re-live the time where horses were the main mode of transportation, most people grew what they ate, lumber and cattle were the biggest industry on the Hill and everyday was a struggle just to get by.

Idyllwild’s oldest newspaper is designed to bring you up to date information on some of the events and programs on the Hill. Idyllwild Breezes was first published in the summer of 1919 and ran as a weekly during the summer months until 1929. Just a few of the stories run during that time survive. An example of some stories are presented here.

September 7, 1920 “One Hundred and Fourteen home sites have been sold in Idyllwild during the past two years. When the present management took hold of Idyllwild they dreamed of... a possible twenty-five for sale, but they never in their most hopeful mood expected to sell one hundred. But that mark has been passed and the demand is growing. Hardly a day passes now without a sale.”

Another article written on, July 28, 1922 recounts our history as a timber town.
“The Dark Canyon sawmill as been leased by Henry Guernsey of the San Bernardino Lumber and Box Company. Mr. Guernsey was now sawing 16,000 feet of lumber a day. While the mill has been in disuse for a number of years, the machinery is of the best and as things are running very smoothly, Mr. Guernsey expects to maintain a capacity run of 20,000 feet of lumber a day. The lumber will be used for box shooks, the box factory being located in San Bernardino.”*

While we didn’t go through the tumultuous boom town era of gold prospectors and miners, we did enjoy a long peaceful time as our town grew from a few cabins and small businesses to our quaint village of today.

Explore all our town as to offer, visit our wonderful shops and restaurants and try and get some time on one of our many trails. Our main goal as business owners is to get you to enjoy your stay and more importantly, we want you to come back! Please let us know how your visit went, good or bad by sending us an e-mail to our web site, comments@IdyllwildFestivals.com

Please enjoy this re-creation of Idyllwild’s first newspaper as we bring you fun and exciting things to see and do while you are visiting us here on the Hill.

*John W. Robinson & Bruce D. Risher, The San Jacintos (Arcadia, 1993) p. 98 & 134