Meeks Bay, California

{{Short description|Unincorporated community in California, United States}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

{{coord|39|02|04|N|120|07|27|W|display=title}}

{{Infobox settlement

|name = Meeks Bay

|other_name =

|native_name =

|nickname =

|settlement_type =Unincorporated community

|image_skyline =

|imagesize =

|image_caption =

|pushpin_map =California#USA

|pushpin_label_position =bottom

|pushpin_mapsize =

|pushpin_map_caption =Location in California

|pushpin_image=California Locator Map with US.PNG

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name =United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = California

|subdivision_type2 =County

|subdivision_name2 = El Dorado County

|subdivision_type3 =

|subdivision_name3 =

|

|established_title =

|established_date =

|coordinates = {{coord|39|02|04|N|120|07|27|W|region:US-CA|display=inline}}

|elevation_footnotes = {{gnis|1659750}}

|elevation_m =1902

|elevation_ft =6240

|footnotes =

|population_as_of = 2010

|population_footnotes =

|population_total = 985

}}

Meeks Bay (formerly, Meigs Bay, Micks Bay, and Murphys) is an unincorporated community in El Dorado County, California. It lies on Lake Tahoe at the mouth of Meeks Creek, at an elevation of 6240 feet (1902 m). The place is named for John Meeks, who owned the land. The Meeks brothers baled 25 tons of wild hay in the meadows at the mouth of Meeks Creek in 1862.

Meeks Bay was once the site of a popular summer resort with a 400-seat theater, several restaurants, beauty shops, and horse stables. The resort closed in the 1970s and a US Forest Service campground was built on the site.{{cite news |last=Radtke |first=Kathie |date=18 May 1975 |title=A Tahoe tradition is tumbling down |url=https://newspapers.com/image/620637711/?terms=%22meeks+bay%22&match=1 |work=The Sacramento Bee |location=Sacramento, CA |access-date=27 Dec 2023}} The Washoe tribe later acquired meadow land along Lake Tahoe and gained the right to operate a newer resort complex at Meek's Bay, re-establishing some of the tribe's original presence along the shores of Lake Tahoe.{{cite news |last=Fortier |first=Claire |date=29 Apr 1998 |title=Washoe tribe to run Tahoe resort |url=https://newspapers.com/image/627854967/ |work=The Sacramento Bee |location=Sacramento, CA |access-date=27 Dec 2023}}

A post office operated at Meeks Bay from 1929 to 1972.{{cite book |author=Durham, David L. |year=1998 |title=California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State |publisher=Quill Driver Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yfa0hmE7yocC |access-date=2010-08-07 |page=522 |isbn=9781884995149 }}