Hiram Leavitt

Hiram Leavitt (1824–1901) was an early settler, innkeeper, and judge in Mono County, California, in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Leavitt left his mark in the area and is the namesake of features such as Leavitt Peak, Leavitt Meadow, Leavitt Creek and Leavitt Lake.

History Bridgeport Inn on Highway 395 in California. The home was built for Hiram Leavitt, who arrived in the area in 1865. Hiram Lewis Leavitt was born in Grantham, New Hampshire, on 2 April 1824. When he was in his late 20s, Leavitt responded to the news of the California Gold Rush and headed west to San Francisco. His wife Eliza and their infant daughter remained behind in Boston until November 1856, when he returned for them, collected their belongings, and made the sea voyage back to California.

By 1867 Leavitt was living in Sonora, California, and later moved to the road linking Sonora with Mono County.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Leavitt Peak, Leavitt Meadow, Leavitt Creek and Leavitt Lake appear on California maps. Hiram and his wife Eliza Leavitt continued to live in the family home – which he had hired builder Sam Hopkins to construct – until Hiram died in 1901 at age 77. (Builder Hopkins later married Leavitt's daughter Ida.) The old Leavitt House is today known as the Bridgeport Inn.