The entire downtown Nevada City historic district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, comprised of more than ninety quaint brick storefronts and picturesque Victorian homes.
One of the best-preserved mother lode towns is Nevada City. The down town district, has over 90 historic buildings, eight of them listed on the National Historic Registry. Nevada City was first known as Deer Creek Dry Diggins and later as Caldwell's Upper Store.
It is now a thriving community, offering visitors lodging, fine dining, and live theatre as well as, specialty shops, antiques, and galleries. One of the most photographed buildings in town, is Fire House Number 1, it is a museum which houses collections of Gold Rush, Native American, Donner Party and Chinese American memorabilia. There is a plaque in the National Hotel parking lot which is dedicated to the ladies of the evening and their unique contributions to the Gold Rush era. There are many homes that are beautifully maintained and are sure to make your stroll through town interesting.
Built in 1856, the Miners Foundry, served the mines of the foothill region with metalworking skills. Here is the birthplace of the famous Pelton Wheel, an invention which revolutionized water power.
Up the highway from town you will find North Bloomfield, originally called “Humbug”. It was once a town of 2000 that served as a supply base for the Malakoff Diggins. About a block of buildings, some dating to the 1850s, have been restored or re-created to give you a feel of the Gold Rush days. Other buildings include an old fire station, fires during the gold rush period happened all to frequently.
The gold mining technique used cannon like nozzles, called monitors, to wash away the gold-bearing hills with high-pressure blasts of water. Elaborate systems of reservoirs, ditches and sluices were created to bring water to the site. Water, after traveling many miles reached a pipe called a Penstock where the water flowed at up to 6000 gallons per minute. The Diggins canyon is 7,000 feet long, as much as 3,000 feet wide, and nearly 600 feet deep in places. The canyon after over 100 years, still shows large scale devastation to the hill sides. |
