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History · Rocky Point

1 of Rocky Point’s places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Point Comfort Lodge. Most of Rocky Point was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1955 on.

1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Rocky Point’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Rocky Point are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Rocky Point, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rocky Point’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rocky Point’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Odessa
1902–1919
Recreation
1913–1924
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Recreation
Gone or out of use
Odessa Post Officepost officeRecreation Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Rocky Point came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rocky Point.

Read it all →

Rocky Point has long been the site of a lakeside fishing resort of summer-only residents starting in the late 19th century, including wealthy San Franciscans, such as Herbert Fleishhacker. The first post office in the area was named Pelican; it was established in 1888 and stayed open until 1907. Another post office in the area was called Lawrentz after Martha A. Lawrentz, the postmaster; it ran from 1894 to 1895. The Recreation post office ran from 1913 until February 11, 1924, when the name was changed to Pelican Bay. The name was changed to Rocky Point on June 30, 1924. Rocky Point post office ran until 1947, when the name was changed to Harriman, after railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman, who kept a summer camp in the area for several years. Harriman post office closed in 1954.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rocky Point, 1902 to 1955

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Odessa post office opens
  3. 1911BuiltPoint Comfort Lodge is built
  4. 1913Post officeThe Recreation post office opens
  5. 1919Post officeThe Odessa post office closes
  6. 1924Post officeThe Recreation post office closes
  7. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Rocky Point on the map, 1955 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rocky Point. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rocky Point on the 1955 USGS mapRocky Point on the 1985 USGS mapRocky Point on the 1998 USGS map1955Lake of the Woods sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rocky Point.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Rocky Point

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Point Comfort Lodge
Point Comfort Lodge, built 1911
Buildings
Point Comfort LodgeBuilt 1911

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Rocky Point

Nobody well known was born in Rocky Point itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
B
Brenda BakkeAmerican actress · b. 1963
Peter HollensAmerican singer · b. 1982
Ralph HillAmerican runner; athletics competitor · b. 1908
Don Pedro ColleyAmerican actor · b. 1938
Sharron AngleFormer member of the Nevada Assembly from 1999 … · b. 1949
Don BarclayAmerican actor and artist · b. 1892

Questions about Rocky Point’s history

What is on the National Register in Rocky Point?

One place: the Point Comfort Lodge (listed 1979).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.