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This is arguably the premier attraction at Lake Tahoe. Located on the shoreline in the southwestern end of spectacular Emerald Bay the Vikingsholm was once the summer home of Mrs. Lora J. Knight. Built in 1929, it is one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere (see photo) and still contains many of Mrs. Knight's original furnishings. The grounds are now part of Emerald Bay State Park and the Park Service conducts daily tours of the mansion from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. Features of the home include delicate paintings on ceilings and walls, six Nordic fireplaces, intricately carved "dragon" beams modeled on beams that hung originally in very old Viking castles, Scandinavian antiques and sod roofs seeded with wildflowers. During late spring and early summer Eagle Falls cascades down behind the Vikingsholm and the base of the waterfall is only a short walk from the grounds. Tours begin every half hour from 10 AM to 4 PM and the cost is $5 for adults, $3 for children 6 to 12, and free for kids under 6. Most of the tours are led by Helen Smith who spent many summers at the estate during the 1930's. The Vikingsholm Foundation is currently soliciting donations for the restoration and maintenance of the historic mansion. Boats under 30 feet only are permitted to dock at the pier briefly for loading and unloading. Beaching or anchoring with stern line tied ashore in this protected water is permitted from sunrise until 9 PM. Overnight boat camping in Emerald Bay is allowed within the marked anchoring area off the dock or at the Boat Camp (see newspaper articles regarding the overnight camping issue on our Boating News page). No dogs are permitted ashore anywhere in the bay. Just offshore is Fannette Island, the only island in Lake Tahoe. Perched atop is Mrs. Knight's teahouse, a one-room stone structure where she and her guests occasionally took tea in the afternoon. The bottom around Fannette drops off steeply into the bay and small boats may be brought in carefully to permit going ashore on the lower, southwestern end of the island. A trail leads from that lower end up the island's spine to the teahouse. Have your own tea party!
 Located at what is now Sugar Pine Point State Park, this sumptuous old Tahoe summer home was built in 1903 by Isaias William Hellman, president of Nevada National and Wells Fargo Banks. Following Hellman's death in 1920 the property was bequeathed to his daughter, Florence Ehrman. Acquired by the California State Parks Service in 1965, this 11,700 sq. foot mansion is also open during the summer for guided tours. The home, known as Pine Lodge (see photo), and its many outbuildings will give the visitor a sense of what life was like at Lake Tahoe for California's wealthy elite around the turn of the century. Tours will be offered this year on a daily basis from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September, beginning on the hour from 11 AM to 4 PM. Cost is $5 for adults, $3 for children 6 to 12, and free for kids under 6. Don't miss the boathouse on the shoreline north of the mansion which contains several of the family's antique boats! Two other vintage craft, the Mercury and the Old Town Canoe, used by Florence Ehrman during her honeymoon in 1904, lie in the boathouse to the south of Pine Lodge. Admission to the boathouses during the summer season is free.Also on the grounds just a short distance from the north boathouse is the well preserved log cabin of General William Phipps, one of the first year-round settlers at Lake Tahoe. Built by Phipps in 1872 the cabin still contains some of his handmade furniture which can be viewed through the windows. Boats under 30' may tie up at the pier just below the mansion for loading and unloading only. Boaters may also anchor just off the beach to the north of the pier with stern line tied ashore in generally protected water from sunrise until 9 PM. There are a few submerged rocks just offshore along the shoreline there but most present no hazard and are usually easily visible in the clear, still water. Dogs are not permitted ashore.
Located on 74 acres of land along the shoreline several hundred yards to the west of Camp Richardson Resort, this site encompasses four different summer estates owned by wealthy California families in the 1890´s and early 1900´s. Purchased in the late 1960´s by the U.S. Forest Service, the elaborate grounds and 33 buildings connected by extensive walkways were restored and are now maintained by the agency and the Tahoe Tallac Association. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and each summer the grounds and many of the buildings are opened to the public. The Pope estate, built in 1894, is open for guided tours and is now the home of changing art exhibits. For more information click here. Included there are Valhalla, the 4000 sq. ft. lakeside "cabin" built in 1923 and now used frequently as a rustic site for weddings and other events. The Valhalla Grand Hall features beautiful wooden floors, an open-beam ceiling, a balcony of lodge pole construction and a 20-foot stone fireplace. Nearby are the Boathouse Theater, a museum, and another boathouse holding the 1920's vintage cruiser, Quit-Cha-Kiddin' . Also on the grounds are the boiler and parts of the steam engine and drive train removed from the old 100 foot steamboat Tod Goodwin in 1897. The Tahoe Tallac Association sponsors the Valhalla Arts & Music Festival held throughout the Tallac Site. The Festival includes a variety of events for adults and children starting in early June and lasting through the end of August. Boaters wishing to visit the Tallac Historic Site may enjoy the use of a U.S. Forest Service pier next to the Valhalla Boathouse Theater. For GPS waypoints of the pier click here .
Located on the northeast shore of the lake, about a mile south of Sand Harbor at Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park, this complex of beautiful stone structures was built for the eccentric "Captain" George Whittell, Jr., from 1937-39. Mr. Whittell acquired 40,000 acres of land on the Nevada side of the lake in 1936, paying an average of only $50 an acre, and his holdings included over 27 miles of the shoreline.In addition to the chateau-like main lodge you may see two smaller buildings, the Card House to the north and the Cook/Butler's House to the south. Also visible are a gazebo, a miniature lighthouse and a 100' long boathouse that still holds Mr. Whittell's fabulous mahogany yacht, Thunderbird. Several of these structures are connected by a 600' underground tunnel and the section built into the hillside that leads to the boathouse is easily visible. Whittell was very fond of wild animals and a selection from his private zoo, including lions and elephants once roamed these grounds during the summer months. The structure on the property that appears to be a three-car garage was actually built to house elephants and was constructed with a fireplace to keep them warm on cool evenings! Following Whittell's death in 1969, investment magnate Jack Dreyfus purchased the property and constructed the additional wooden structures that stand there now. The site was recently acquired by a non-profit organization, was added to the National Register of Historic Places and is now available for public tours. Although private boaters are unable to go ashore there, a commercial tour boat offers cruises to and tours of the grounds. For information regarding these cruises click here. For land-based tour tickets contact the Incline Village/Crystal Bay Visitor's Center at 1-800-GO-TAHOE. For more information on the property and news on tours visit the web site of the Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society.
Located at Skunk Harbor on the east shore about two miles north of Glenbrook, this stone house was built for the George Newhall family in 1922. The Newhalls had a large estate in Rubicon Bay on the west shore but longed for a spot across the lake that they and their friends could boat to in their sporty mahogany runabouts. Thus this property was purchased and the house built solely to provide these wealthy Californians with a hospitable boating destination. They tied up their boats at the pier there and spent long summer days living the life of the idle rich during the Roaring Twenties. The family's fortunes changed following the stock market crash in 1929 and they sold the property to George Whittell, Jr., in the early 1930's. Whittell spent several summers in the house until his mansion was completed north of Skunk Harbor in 1939. Much of the Whittell estate was acquired by the U.S. Forest Service following his death in 1969 and is now public property. Boaters may go ashore at Skunk Harbor and walk around the outside of the old house which is now boarded up.
Originally the palatial summer estate of Henry J. Kaiser (Kaiser Aluminum) built in 1939, Fleur du Lac lies just north of Homewood and just south of Eagle Rock, a 200 foot high, flat-topped promontory near the water's edge. The grounds and original buildings were used in the filming of the movie, Godfather II, in 1973. However, shortly after the movie was made a developer purchased the property and demolished the old main house to make room for an exclusive condominium development. The only structures used in the movie that still remain are the complex of old native stone boathouses with their wrought iron gates. Although Fleur du Lac is private property and no one is allowed ashore there, the boathouses and multi-million dollar condominiums are easily viewed from the lake. One can still recall "Fredo" being rowed out into the mist on his last boat ride!
This large rock formation is located on the southeastern shore and is easily visible from almost any point on the lake. Once a part of the neck of a volcanic vent that existed on the site about five million years ago, Cave Rock is now named for the caves high up on its side. When Lake Tahoe was first formed, roughly three million years ago, lake level was initially hundreds of feet higher than it is now. Remarkably, these caves were carved out of the rock by wave action of the lake over tens of thousands of years during that period! Cave Rock (see photo) is still considered today a sacred site to the Washoe Indians whose ancestors spent their summers at Lake Tahoe and once performed religious ceremonies inside the largest of the caves. Much to the dismay of the Washoe tribe the first tunnel for Highway 50 was blasted through the rock in 1931. Prior to 1931 the original single lane roadway went around the outside of the rock. The stone foundation for the road, laid at great expense in 1865, is still easily visible clinging to the side of the rock. The second, easternmost tunnel was added in 1957. Today the largest cave is used as a base for rock climbers to scale the face of the rock, still causing great consternation in the Native American community. Occasionally climbers can be seen from the lake dangling from lines above the cave. One of the reasons the Washoe considered Cave Rock sacred was what they called "The Lady of the Lake". The "Lady" appears in the rock formation as the profile of a woman's face gazing out toward the lake from just below the old highway foundation. She is best viewed by boat from north of the rock, close in to shore and in the morning or early afternoon hours.
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