Yellowstone Lake Hotel is an Historic Convenience for Travelers

"Yellowstone Lake Lodge" ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Yellowstone Lake Lodge 2" ©Mary Montague Sikes

The Lake Hotel opened in Yellowstone National Park in 1891. Its convenient location provides visitors with an excellent base from which to start daily explorations of the massive park. We stayed at the hotel for a week in 2006, enjoying lovely views of the lake from our room windows and excellent meals each night in the large main dining room. I especially liked watching the work of the park resident artist as work in progress changed each day.

In 1903, the hotel was redesigned and expanded by architect Robert Reamer who also designed the park's famous Old Faithful Inn. The Yellowstone Lake Hotel is a rather plain clapboard structure with two large porticoes that face the lake. The original building was three-stories high. The 1903, 1922-23, and 1928 re-modelings added an eastward extension with a third portico, a two-story west wing, a dining room expansion, and a solarium. More renovations took place in 1984 and 1990. The most recent renovations occurred in 2012 and 2013-14.

"Buffalo Roam" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Although the hotel has an austere appearance from the outside, the lobby was cozy and inviting during our stay there. I especially enjoyed the art on display, and in the evening, buffalo were sometimes seen roaming along the lake front.

The buffalo often stopped traffic along the road that led to and from the hotel. Warning signs were posted throughout the park about the danger of the animals goring tourists, so most people were wise enough to stay inside their vehicles while taking photographs.

If we return to Yellowstone, I would like to once again stay in the Lake Hotel. However, I do not believe the resident artist program is still in place there. I will miss that feature.