Cherry Valley

History

In the early 1800s, the area was known as Rancho San Gorgonio, an outpost for the San Gabriel Mission. A large portion of the area was a Spanish Land Grant made to a man by the name of Paulino Weaver. In 1853, Weaver sold some of his land to Dr. Isaac William Smith, who was struck by the land's natural beauty while looking for stray cattle. Dr. Smith purchased a 1,000 acres for $1,000 from Weaver and established Smith Ranch and [https://www.hsresort.com/history.html Highland Springs Ranch & Inn]. The original Smith residence stood near where the swimming pool is today. In 1862, Smith's ranch was dubbed "Smith Station" and was made a stagecoach stop. In 1865, a young Wyatt Earp drove the route from San Bernardino to La Paz, Arizona on which Smith Station was a popular stop. From 1864 to 1866, the route through Highland Springs along the Bradshaw Trail was the single connecting line for passenger, mail and the express travel between Southern California and the eastern regions of the nation. Smith's Station slowly developed into a hotel bustling with traffic. In 1884, the Smith property was purchased by a Los Angeles company that built a three-story hotel on the property called Highland Home. The first cherry trees in the area were planted here, contributing to the name that it is still known by today. In 1927, Fred and William Hirsch bought the old Smith place, renamed it Highland Springs Resort, and developed it into a health resort. Fred Hirsch himself was made healthy through following the philosophy of Professor Arnold Ehret, who was an early proponent of juice fasting and colon cleansing. The restaurant on the resort was vegetarian and Hirsch grew a lot of the produce served at the restaurant on the property. He also grew his own grapes and operated a small…

Geography

Cherry Valley is located at (33.974848, -116.970300). With an elevation of 2,980 feet above sea level, Cherry Valley is at the highest point on the San Gorgonio Pass between San Bernardino and Palm Springs. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Cherry Valley has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  13,787
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  11,110
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  10,333
• California Towhee

  Melozone crissalis (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  9,997
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  9,864
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,820
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  8,763
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  8,201

Most recent

• M 2.67 — 2026-09-08
  39 km NE of Big Bear City, CA
• M 3.2 — 2026-09-02
  6 km SE of Ontario, CA
• M 2.91 — 2026-08-31
  22 km SSW of La Quinta, CA
• M 3.64 — 2026-08-19
  14 km N of Warner Springs, CA
• M 2.78 — 2026-08-16
  6 km SE of Ontario, CA
• M 3.04 — 2026-08-12
  10 km WSW of Corona, CA