Grandview offers grand views of the central canyon as well as a peek into the canyon’s pioneer past. Today, it’s the South Rim’s most forested overlook, shady and peaceful, but 100 years ago this was the bustling center of Grand Canyon’s tourist operations, with hotels and a post office that used the cancellation mark of “Tourist, Arizona.” Victorian-era travelers praised the log cabin-style Grand View Hotel and Captain John Hance’s tourist camp and trail.

This was also the headquarters of Grand Canyon’s most successful copper mine. Mining ruins can be seen on Horseshoe Mesa at the bottom of the three-mile Grandview Trail, which starts just east of the overlook’s stone barrier.

After the Santa Fe Railway built tracks to present-day Grand Canyon Village, 12 miles west, traveling to Tourist fell out of favor. Mary Colter used logs from the Grand View Hotel for the ceiling of her Watchtower, a few miles down the road. The Park Service removed the remaining buildings in the 1970s, and today only ghosts whisper through the pines at Grandview.