MILEPOSTS #1077

By Bill Pumford, Image from ROWHS Collection

TITLE: VALLEY OF ENCHANTMENT – A MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY: The well-known community of Valley of Enchantment (popularly known as VOE) is located roughly between Crestline and Cedarpines Park. The land now occupied by VOE was once owned by Byron Waters who was a homesteader in the area. Waters, as he got older, started selling off his property. Frank A. Tetley Sr., great-grandfather of our local historian Rhea-Frances Tetley, purchased most of the Waters property for development. The development was originally known as Rim O’ the World Park and many lots were sold. The lots were admittingly much smaller than many on the mountain and sold for as little as $25. The lots were barely large enough for a tent or small cabin. For marketing purposes Frank Tetley Sr. and his son used the term Rim O’ the World Park because Rim of the World was well known even though the Park itself was miles from the actual rim of the mountain. Eventually the name of the development settled on was Valley of Enchantment. The early success of the development could be, in part, attributed to the extensive water system installed by Frank Sr. which included creation of the Valley of Enchantment Mutual Water Company. During the 1920s and 1930s the development was managed by A.G. Snyder and featured, as did many of the mountain resorts at the time, high class orchestras and dancing. This week’s image shows a market and café in Rim O’ the World Park located on what is now Waters Drive in downtown Valley of Enchantment. The building on the left, the café, was last used as a real estate office in the early 1990s. Both buildings, as related by Rhea, were just west of the current VOE post office and no longer exist. The popularity of VOE continued for decades after the original development with places like the Valley of Enchantment Lodge and Ohrmund’s Resort.

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