22. Old Faithful Inn
- Rainey Knudson
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
The Yellowstone Caldera—the vast magma chamber that lies beneath Yellowstone Park, causing its geysers and colorful geothermal pools—is one of the largest active volcanic systems on Earth. The saying goes that it’s “overdue” for another eruption. From a scientific perspective, this is hogwash, at least when considered in a human-scaled timeframe. The caldera’s last major eruption, about 640,000 years ago, predates Homo sapiens as a species, and it could be another half million years before it erupts again.
It is interesting to think about Yellowstone in terms of time, however. The Old Faithful Inn, the oldest and grandest of our National Park lodges—the building that coined the term “parkitecture”—has stood near the Old Faithful geyser, the great showpiece of the caldera’s ongoing activity, for just over 120 years. This feels like an age in the midst of our loud, emotional, urgent human history.
The Inn itself feels venerable and old, so old, like a vast log cabin from another era. Its spectacular lobby rises eighty-five feet, all gnarled supports and raw logs of a massive tree house. A tree palace, actually, although it’s not luxurious—or rather, what’s luxurious about it has nothing to do with gilded ornament.
No, the Old Faithful Inn is luxurious like a cathedral. Nothing is cheap, minimal, or “optimized,” but extravagant in its use of space and materials, gently instructing visitors to pause, linger, and look up in reverence for our national inheritance, for beauty and craft. A caretaker of awe.
Special thanks to Candy Knudson for suggesting the Old Faithful Inn.
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This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.
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