Buck Meadows (formerly Hamilton's and Hamilton's Station) is a census-designated place in Mariposa County, California, United States. It is located east-northeast of

Smith Peak Smith Peak, in Yosemite National Park in the United States, overlooks the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and provides grand vistas of the Hetch Hetchy Valley and surrounding wilderness. It is named for a sheep owner who claimed to own the Hetch Hetch ...

, at an elevation of . The population was 21 at the 2020 census. Buck Meadows lies just south of the Tuolumne County line. It is on State Route 120, east of Groveland. The ZIP Code for this community is shared with Groveland (95321), and wired telephones work out of Groveland's

telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...

with numbers following the format (

209 Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 '' Ab urbe cond ...

) 962-xxxx. The official U.S. Geological Survey coordinates for the community are . The area is named for Buck's Meadow which lies at the corner of SR120 and Smith Station Road. According to ''The Big Oak Flat Road'', a variant name for the area was Hamilton's Station. This may have referred to the name of a stagecoach stop. east of U.S.F.S. Buck Meadows Fire Station, "Rim of the World" overlooks the canyon containing the South Fork of the Tuolumne River. Further east, visitors on hot summer days can cool off at a

Stanislaus National Forest Stanislaus National Forest is a U.S. National Forest which manages of land in four counties in the Sierra Nevada in Northern California. It was established on February 22, 1897, making it one of the oldest national forests. It was named after t ...

picnic area called "Rainbow Pool". The area is on the south side of SR120 2.25 miles east of U.S.F.S. Buck Meadows Fire Station. This community is home to Lucky Buck Restaurant on SR120. Southwest of town, the U.S. Forest Service,

fire lookout at Smith Peak overlooks the area. A U.S.F.S. campground and fire station are also present in the community. The Pines campground is located at .

History

Buck Meadows started as a stage stop called Hamilton's established by Alva Hamilton in the 1870s. A post office operated at Buck Meadows from 1915 to 1925.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers , all land.

Climate

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Buck Meadows has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps.

Demographics

The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

reported that Buck Meadows had a population of 31. The population density was 17.8 people per square mile (6.9/km²). The racial makeup of Buck Meadows was 23 (74.2%) White, 0 (0.0%) African American, 0 (0.0%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 5 (16.1%) from other races, and 3 (9.7%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7 persons (22.6%). The Census reported that 31 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized. There were 15 households, out of which 2 (13.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 6 (40.0%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 0 (0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1 (6.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 0 (0%)

unmarried opposite-sex partnerships POSSLQ ( , plural POSSLQs) is an abbreviation (or acronym) for "Person of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters", a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of ...

, and 0 (0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 8 households (53.3%) were made up of individuals, and 4 (26.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07. There were 7 families (46.7% of all households); the average family size was 3.29. The population was spread out, with 7 people (22.6%) under the age of 18, 0 people (0%) aged 18 to 24, 9 people (29.0%) aged 25 to 44, 8 people (25.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 7 people (22.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 210.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 200.0 males. There were 37 housing units at an average density of 21.2 per square mile (8.2/km²), of which 4 (26.7%) were owner-occupied, and 11 (73.3%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0%; the rental vacancy rate was 63.3%. 5 people (16.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 26 people (83.9%) lived in rental housing units.

Politics

In the

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

Buck Meadows is located in the 14th

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

District, represented by Republican

Tom Berryhill Thomas Charles Berryhill (August 27, 1953 – August 29, 2020) was an American Republican politician. He was a member of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors from January 7, 2019 until his death. He previously represented the 8th district ...

, and in the 25th Assembly District, represented by Republican Kristin Olsen. In the United States House of Representatives, Buck Meadows is in .

References

Sources

* Map: "Jawbone Ridge, California," 7.5-minute quadrangle, U.S. Geological Survey. * Map: "Stanislaus National Forest, California," U.S. Forest Service, 1979. * U.S. Bureau of the Census {{authority control Census-designated places in Mariposa County, California Populated places in the Sierra Nevada (United States)