Menor’s Ferry Historic District

Last updated on December 20, 2023.

The tiny town of Moose, Wyoming, now sits within the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park and is the location of the park headquarters. Just to the north of the town is the ½ mile long Menor’s Ferry Trail which takes you through the Menor’s Ferry Historic District.

Chapel of the Transfiguration

The first site is the Chapel of the Transfiguration, an Episcopal chapel built in 1925 out of logs, sits near the parking lot. It was built to serve the guests and workers of the ranches in the Jackson Hole area.

The interior of the chapel features some beautiful stained glass windows and a picture window that frames the Teton Range behind the altar.

Menor’s Ferry

Following the trail in a clockwise motion, you are taken to a replica of the ferryboat that Bill Menor used to run across the Snake River from 1894 to 1918. The ferry was a platform set on two pontoons. It ran along a set of cables placed across the river. Menor charged 50 cents for a wagon and 25 cents for a horse and rider. The current ferry and cable works are replicas.

Next to the ferry is the old house and general store run by Menor. It was made of logs and whitewashed with materials from a lime pit across the river. It was the only settlement west of the Snake River at the time. A water filter built by Menor in 1895 is also on the property.

Wagon Shed

Continuing along the trail is a shed with historic wagons inside. There are also some replica bullboats, which were used by mountain men to transport furs over water.

Maude Noble Cabin

The final structure on the trail is the Maude Noble Cabin. Noble relocated her 1916 cabin to the present location in 1918 after she purchased Menor’s Ferry. She doubled the fares to US$1 for cars with local license plates and US$2 for cars with out of state plates. She ran the ferry until 1927 when a bridge was built over the river. In 1929, Noble sold her land to the John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s Snake River Land Company, which intended on donating the land to the National Park Service.

On July 23, 1923, the Maude Noble Cabin was the site of a meeting between Yellowstone National Park superintendent Horace Albright and local ranchers and businessmen. This meeting started the process to create Grand Teton National Park. Inside the cabin are several photographs from the early days of the park and an explanation of its creation.