Jim and Laurelin Lewis are laying the foundation for new dreams where they watched their old ones burn down four years ago.
The Lewises purchased the historic Dardanelle Resort in May 2018, just three months before the 2018 Donnell Fire devoured the popular roadside stop and camping getaway on Highway 108 near Sonora Pass.
On Aug. 1, workers for Manteca-based contractor DLS Custom Builders began pouring concrete for the footing of the foundation for the 12-acre resort’s new store where the previous one stood for nearly a century.
Laurelin Lewis said they didn’t realize until one of their campers pointed out that the day also marked the four-year anniversary since the start of the blaze that would torch more than 36,000 acres and destroy their then-recent investment.
“It sort of felt like a full circle moment for us,” she said in a phone interview last week. “We were just so excited to have some movement finally happening.”
The resort, built in 1923, was considered a total loss after the blaze leveled its general store, gift shop, bar, restaurant, gas station and cabins.
Immediately after the final embers of the Donnell Fire had been snuffed out, the Lewises got to work on picking up the pieces by erecting a new temporary store in an old hickory shed, along with a makeshift bar.
However, the past four years have also brought additional challenges that the couple couldn’t have foreseen when they bought the business for $750,000, including fire-related forest closures, smoke from massive wildfires burning elsewhere in the state, and a global pandemic that brought the tourism industry to its knees.
“We have not had a normal season yet since we purchased the resort,” Laurelin Lewis said.
An outpouring of support from the community has helped the couple “limp along” as they worked to chart out the resort’s future.
Most of the money that came from insurance went toward rebuilding the infrastructure necessary for getting the campgrounds at the resort up and running again, which was important for providing a revenue stream to help them stay afloat.
“We had to purchase a new generator because we’re off grid, then wire electricity to 35 campsites and relay pipes from our spring almost a half-mile away,” Laurelin Lewis said.
In the meantime, the Lewises also worked with the U.S. Forest Service to determine how — and if — they could rebuild what once stood at the site that’s located within the Stanislaus National Forest.
The couple said they’ve been using historic photos of the store, prior to additions and alterations made over the ensuing decades, as reference for the design of the new building.
“After about a year and a half, we realized we really wanted to just replicate the resort,” Jim Lewis said. “That’s what the community wanted, and what we wanted to do.”
Both of the Lewises grew up in Tuolumne County and spent the decade prior to purchasing the resort recreating in the high-sierra mountains outside of Sonora Pass with their three young children, who were ages 10, 8 and 1 at the Donnell Fire.
Jim Lewis said the goal is to first complete the store, then move onto rebuilding the bar, restaurant and other aspects of the resort in future phases.
The couple recently launched a GoFundMe to help with raising the roughly $300,000 they believe it will take to rebuild the store alone. Their goal is to complete the exterior before winter and have the store up and running in time for the resort’s 100th anniversary next year.
“This is the first of three fundraisers and full blown events we’re going to do to raise money and complete construction of this building,” Jim Lewis said.
In December 2020, the U.S. Forest Service revealed the cause of the Donnell Fire to be an unattended, escaped campfire. The agency has yet to announce any suspects or arrests in connection with the blaze.
To contribute to the Lewis’ rebuilding fund, go to https://gofund.me/ba0b2379.
Contact Alex MacLean at amaclean@uniondemocrat.com or (209) 588-4541.