The history of Zephyr Cove
Zephyr Cove sits on Lake Tahoe's eastern Nevada shore, its ground tracing Washoe fishing grounds, 1860s settler cabins, and a named town after its 1930 post office opened. On March 1, 1964, Paradise Airlines Flight 901A crashed nearby, killing all 85 aboard, one of Nevada's deadliest air disasters.
Zephyr Cove, on Lake Tahoe's eastern Nevada shore, grew from Washoe fishing grounds and 1860s settler cabins into a named town after its 1930 post office opened. On March 1, 1964, Paradise Airlines Flight 901A crashed near Zephyr Cove, killing all 85 aboard, one of Nevada's deadliest air disasters.
A plane crash near Zephyr Cove killed all 85 aboard
On open ground near Church Street and Cedar Street, you're in the community of Zephyr Cove, a scatter of cabins and shoreline homes on Lake Tahoe's eastern edge. Washoe families lived and fished around this cove long before any road reached it. Kit Carson and John Frémont passed through in 1844, among the first outsiders to see the lake. Settlers moved in by 1862 and named the place after the region's gusty afternoon wind, the Washoe Zephyr. A post office opened in 1930, and its name stuck to the whole town.
The darkest day came on March 1, 1964. Paradise Airlines Flight 901A went down near Zephyr Cove, killing all 85 people on board, one of the deadliest crashes in Nevada's history.
A log cabin survives from Tahoe's early homestead years
A quarter mile away stands the Lena N. Gale Cabin, a simple log cabin from the area's early homestead years. It survives as one of the oldest buildings left on this shore, built when Zephyr Cove was still just a handful of cabins and a dock.
Lake Tahoe's east shore grew slowly. Round Hill Village, recorded as far back as 1850, and the old mining camp of Hobart once stood nearby. Hobart is gone now, its name kept only in old federal records.
A post office turned scattered cabins into a town
The 1930 post office turned a scatter of cabins into a recognized town. Vacation homes followed, then a disc golf course near the shore and a small census-designated community that split off from Round Hill Village in 2010.
Today Church Street and Cedar Street sit quietly among lakeside houses.
Lake Tahoe's shoreline spreads out just beyond the cabins and quiet streets around you.
Every person, building and event in this story opens into its own dig in the app — and Strata will dig the ground under your feet instead, wherever that is, in about a minute, with every source shown.