Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nearby natural masterpiece of the Teton Range. The $21.6 million structure has more than
22,000 square feet and is being used as a model for other national parks in that more than
half of the funds used to build the center were donated by private individuals. The state-of-
the-art facility, including video rivers that flow beneath your feet, places emphasis on the
connection between humans and the natural world. Fantastic interpretive displays include a
large relief model of the park that uses technology to show glacier movement and animal
migration; there is also a photographic tribute to mountaineering in the region.
Menors Ferry Historic District
In 1894, William D. Menor came to Jackson Hole and built a homestead along the Snake
River. He built a ferryboat on cables to carry settlers and hopeful miners across the river,
which was otherwise impassable during spring runoff. Entire wagon teams crossed on the
ferry, paying $0.50 per trip, while a horse and rider paid $0.25. In 1918, Menor sold the
ferry operation to Maud Noble, who doubled the fares ($1 for automobiles with local plates,
$2 for out-of-staters) in the hope of attracting more tourists to the region. When a bridge
was built in 1927, the ferry became obsolete, and in 1929 Noble sold her land to the Snake
River Land Company, the same year the park was created. She had already donated a por-
tion of her land for the construction of the Chapel of the Transfiguration.
Today, a replica of the ferryboat and cables has been built on-site, and visitors can mean-
der down the 0.5-mile self-guided
Menor's Ferry Trail
past Menor's cabin, which doubles
as a country store.
Chapel of the Transfiguration
Built in 1925 to serve the ranchers and dudes in the Teton Valley, the
Chapel of the Trans-
figuration
(307/733-2603, services 8am and 10am Sun. late May-early Sept.) is a humble
log cabin structure with the most spectacular mountain view framed in the window be-
hind the altar. An Episcopal church, operated by St. John's in Jackson, it was built on land
donated by Maud Noble and is a favorite spot for summer weddings.
MM
Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve
The former JY Ranch and longtime summer home of the Rockefeller family, the
Laurance
S. Rockefeller Preserve
(307/739-3654, trails open year-round, visitors center 10am-6pm
daily late May-late Sept.) offers eight miles of trails through forest, wetlands, and meadows
on reclaimed property along Phelps Lake and Lake Creek. The preserve is 1,106 acres and
was donated to the Park Service in 2007 by the Rockefeller family with the mission of giv-
ing people access to the natural world that Laurance Rockefeller found so inspiring and sus-
