A BRIEF HISTORY OF IDYLLWILD

 Idyllwild was once the summer home for bands of Cahuilla Indians, who came to escape the heat of lower elevations. A Cahuilla legend recounts how tribesmen chanted over the body of their fallen chieftain Tahquitz, or Takwish, who had been possessed by and evil spirit and killed his sweetheart. Suddenly his body began to glow like fire, and he rose and settled on Idyllwild's Tahquitz Rock. According to the legend, Tahquitz is trapped beneath the rock with a rattlesnake and a condor for company, and when the mountain shakes and trembles, it is not an earthquake, but Tahquitz up to his evil tricks on Lily Rock.

Idyllwild was known originally as Strawberry Valley because of the wild strawberries that grow there, especially beside the creek that runs through the town, Strawberry Creek. Shepherds regularly brought their flocks to the valley. In the 1880's the Domenigoni Family of San Jacinto homesteaded land near what is now the Idyllwild Arts Academy. In 1889, George and Sarah Hannahs built a summer camp next to the site of their sawmill in upper Dutch Flat: they named it Camp Idyllwilde. By the 1890's a toll road had been built from Hemet, which opened Idyllwild to settlement, logging and tourism. A post office was established in 1893; at this time, the town was canned Rayneta after Hannahs' son Raymond.

In 1901, the Idyllwild Sanatorium was built to treat tuberculosis patients. The sanatorium was soon remodeled as a resort called "Idyllwild Among the Pines", and later, "Idyllwild". In 1901, the town's official name was changed to Idyllwild.

In 1914 there were 50 permanent residences. The beauty and serenity of the Idyllwild area entices Southern Californians today just as it did years ago.

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