Alliance for Historic Wyoming to Host Tour of AMK Ranch

The Alliance for Historic Wyoming (AHW) will host a tour of Grand Teton National Park’s historic AMK Ranch on the banks of Jackson Lake at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 15.

The event is part of AHW’s Unbarred program, offering unique, inside looks at properties and landscapes usually inaccessible to the public. The AMK Ranch, located on AMK Ranch Road adjacent to Leek’s Marina, is off of John D. Rockefeller Parkway in Grand Teton National Park. The event is open to the public, with a suggested $25 donation, which includes lunch.

The tour takes place at the University of Wyoming-National Park Service (UW-NPS) Research Center located at the AMK Ranch. Events begin after lunch with a tour of the National Register of Historic Places listed property and led by UW and AHW experts. The tour will feature the AMK’s historic buildings and landscape, in the context of historic preservation.

The UW-NPS Research Center provides a base for university faculty members and government scientists from throughout North America to conduct research in the diverse aquatic and terrestrial environments of Grand Teton National Park and the greater Yellowstone area.

“The beautiful setting and architecture of the AMK Ranch represent the history of Teton County,” says AHW Executive Director Carly-Ann Anderson. “It encompasses everything from homesteading and trapping, to tourism and recreation, and now, of course, the University of Wyoming and National Park Service stories.”

Anderson says the event is called “Pencil Us In: Unbarred at the AMK Ranch.” The title refers to Alfred Berol, president of the Eagle Pencil Company, who enjoyed vacationing with his family on the shores of Jackson Lake at the ranch. One of the lodges features several pencil motifs as a nod to his fortune. Stunning views and significant rustic log architecture make this former vacation property one of a kind, Anderson says.

The AMK Ranch sits on a peninsula between Jackson Lake and Sargents Bay, named for John Sargent, who homesteaded there in 1890. He used his land for ranching and tourism, offering boating and camping trips.

In 1926, William Lewis Johnson bought the property and used it as a summer retreat and hunting and fishing camp. Berol bought the property in 1936 and constructed what is now known as the Berol Lodge in 1938. Berol’s death in 1974 resulted in the sale of the property by his son, Kenneth, to Grand Teton National Park two years later. It has served as the UW-NPS Research Center since 1978.

“The continued use of the ranch has kept the many cabins and lodges as a living part of the region’s and state’s heritages,” Anderson says.

The AHW is Wyoming’s statewide historic preservation nonprofit dedicated to protecting historic and cultural resources in both the built and natural environments.

For more information and directions, call (307) 333-3508 or visit www.HistoricWyoming.org.