Grand Canyon’s Indian Garden to be called Havasupai Garden

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — For years, the Indian Garden name assigned to a popular Grand Canyon campground has been a painful reminder for a Native American tribe that was displaced by the national park.

Now, the name will finally be changed.

The Havasupai Tribe and Grand Canyon National Park announced Nov. 21 that Indian Garden will be renamed Havasupai Gardens.

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names gave unanimous approval this month to the request from the National Park Service on behalf of the tribe, known internationally for the towering blue-green waterfalls on its reservation.

The area, about 4½ miles (7.2 kilometers) down the popular Bright Angel Trail on the South Rim, originally was called Ha’a Gyoh by the tribe. But by 1928, the park service had forcibly removed the last Havasupai resident from the inner canyon where his family had farmed for generations to make way for trails and a ranger station.

The park service later built a handful of small cabins for tribal members on the South Rim. The Havasupai reservation lies deep in a gorge off the Grand Canyon and is accessible only by mule, foot or helicopter.

“The eviction of Havasupai residents from Ha’a Gyoh coupled with the offensive name, Indian Garden, has had detrimental and lasting impacts on the Havasupai families that lived there and their descendants,” Tribal Chair Thomas Siyuja Sr. said in a statement. “The renaming of this sacred place to Havasupai Gardens will finally right that wrong.”

Grand Canyon Superintendent Ed Keable said he is proud of the collaboration with the Havasupai Tribal Council.

“This renaming is long overdue,” Keable said in a statement. “It is a measure of respect for the undue hardship imposed by the park on the Havasupai people.”

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names voted unanimously (19-0) earlier this month in favor of the formal request submitted by the National Park Service on behalf of the Havasupai Tribe to change the name of Indian Garden to Havasupai Gardens.

Earlier this year, the Havasupai Tribe passed Resolution 29-21 which provided a formal request to the National Park

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Grand Canyon National Park recently renamed Indian Garden to Havasupai Garden following a petition from the tribe started in 2019. The park is currently working to update signage. (Photo/NPS)

Service to change the name. Havasupai Gardens is along the Bright Angel Trail and is a frequent stop for day hikers and backpackers exploring the backcountry of Grand Canyon.

Originally called Ha’a Gyoh, the National Park Service (NPS) instituted policies that forced the Havasupai people from Ha’a Gyoh and in 1928, the last Havasupai resident, Captain Burro, was forcibly removed. Havasupai people continued to live and work within Grand Canyon National Park, despite the forced removal from the inner canyon.