Museums & Big Bear History

                For roughly 2,000 years, the Big Bear Valley was home to the Yugoslavia, a clan of the Serrano people.Museums & Big Bear History :They called the area Yugoslavia , meaning “Pine Place.” Spanish explorers later named them the “Serrano,” or “mountain people.” The arrival and spread of the California Mission System marked the first encounters between the Serrano and Europeans—and began their displacement from their ancestral homeland.

• Early Exploration
• How Big Bear Got Its Name
• From Water Source to Resort Destination
• A Golden Past

    Early Exploration

1772  The first Europeans to see the San Bernardino Mountains were Spanish soldiers who deserted from the San Diego Mission.

1812:

 A series of powerful earthquakes struck the region. The native people believed the Great Spirit was angered by the Padres, sparking an uprising. 

How Big Bear Got Its Name

Modern Big Bear history began around 1845, when Benjamin Davis Wilson entered the valley with 20 men in search of horse thieves who had raided ranches in Riverside. They discovered the valley teeming with grizzly bears—thus inspiring the name Big Bear Lake. Interestingly, the name originally referred to what is now Baldwin Lake; the modern Big Bear Lake didn’t exist until the late 1800s and early 1900s.

From Water Source to Resort Destination

Big Bear Lake wasn’t originally built for recreation. The first dam (1884) was constructed to store water for irrigating crops in the Redlands area. At the time, it created the world’s largest man-made lake and was hailed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” The 

current dam (1911) expanded the lake to its modern size.

A Golden Past

Before becoming a year-round resort, Big Bear was a gold mining hotpot. In 1860, a bear hunter named William Holcomb stumbled upon gold in what is now Holcomb Valley after following a wounded bear’s trail to a creek glimmering with gold flakes. The discovery triggered Southern California’s largest gold rush, attracting hundreds of miners and families until about 1875.

Today, remnants of the gold rush era—old cabins, tools, and historical structures can still be seen. Visitors can pick up self-guided tour brochures at the Big Bear Visitor Center, the Big Bear Discovery Center, or the Big Bear Museum to explore the region’s colorful “Wild West” heritage.