This road trip is a bittersweet one. While we are exploring new horizons, we are ultimately here to say goodbye to friends. Annie and Bob have retired and are relocating to South Carolina. Man!
Before the temps reached 96°, we began our day with a stroll through the Weaverville Historic District which contains thirty-one contributing buildings on Main Street. This hamlet is one of the best preserved towns of the Shasta-Trinity Gold Rush era. As a commercial hub, Weaverville supplied food, tools, equipment and clothing to thousands of prospectors and miners over a large section of Northern California.
It's a sleepy little town... a perfect place to reconnect with old friends.
The historic district includes examples of most of the architectural styles common to the Northern California gold mining towns of the 19th century. Wood two-story residences, a wooden church, brick single and two story commercial building and lodge halls, a Chinese tamped earth structure, and the frame and brick Chinese temple. So very, very cool.
So why Weaverville you might ask. Annie and Bob drove the 614 miles, not to say goodbye to us, but to their son Robby who just secured an awesome job as an archaeologist with the National Forest Service. We're merely interlopers on their family reunion (though we consider one another family anyway).
Chinese immigrants made the Weaverville Chinatown (encompassing two blocks) their home in the late 1800s. More than 2000 Chinese men lived and worked here as gold miners, cooks, builders, and loggers.
A must was a visit to the Joss House.
The Temple of the Forest Beneath the Clouds is the oldest standing and continuously used Chinese temple in California. If open, "the historic site exhibits art objects, pictures, mining tools, and weapons used in the 1854 Tong War. The park is a fascinating look into the role that the Chinese immigrants played in early California history." Darn COVID!
This building is one of the oldest courthouses in continuous use in California. It was built in 1857 by Henry Hocker as a hotel, store and saloon and was purchased by the Board of Supervisors in 1865.
Several of these buildings have an unusual circular iron stairway leading from the sidewalk to the second floor because the upper and lower stories had different owners.
The Trinity Journal was born Jan. 26, 1856, when issue number 1, with completely handset type, came off the handpress in the Journal offices in Weaverville. In the 164 years since, it has never missed an issue — through fires, explosions, floods, snowstorms, electrical failures and other major and minor emergencies. Impressive!
This drinking fountain was one of the more unique dispensers of water.
This 1901 Bandstand was built to showcase the talents of the Ladies’ Eltapome Band. Before radio and television, it was the major source of entertainment and pleasure ushering in the twentieth century.
Weaverville exemplified the Wild West with saloons, gunfights and even a stagecoach robbery by the notorious Black Bart, a.k.a. Charles E. Boles. An old safe from those wild days is still displayed in a building that is now a tavern as a reminder of that Old West heritage.
All throughout town, we discovered this painted rocks, hidden in plain sight. I'm not certain what they represent, but it was certainly fun to find them.
The natural beauty was an interesting contrast to the man-made history. Spectacular.
Due to the 96° temps, a great deal of time was spent on the veranda of the Inn. It was wonderful to meet Robby's girlfriend, Courtney and hear of everyone's future plans. It was the ideal send off and we're so grateful for the opportunities this road trip afforded us, in so many ways.
For 40 years, Annie has been in my life. Through all the amazing and not so amazing, we had each other's backs. I know the 3,000 mile separation is a vast one, but I also know we will meet again and when we do, it will be as if time stood still. We will be transported back to those two crazy 18 year olds, if only briefly. Oh, the beauty of old friends.
“Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance;
they make the latitudes and longitudes.”
-Henry David Thoreau
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1 comments:
I so wish we would have stopped here when driving from Lassen to Patricks Point last year! We drove right by it!
I knew we were missing out on some cool towns since one of the towns before Weaverville is Whiskeytown! It will be nice when A1 is a little older and we can get out and stretch out legs every once in a while, instead of driving from point A to point B as quick as possible, knowing if we get her out of her carseat it may be difficult to put her back, like putting a genie in a bottle... except with tears as lube.
I am so loving the red building, above the courthouse. And the courthouse. The bandstand is incredible. I want to hear the music that poured out of there.
Glad you are having a nice visit!
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