I come from a family of history buffs. We all have different areas and eras that seem to get us going, but one of my favorite things to do is visit a place and dig in. So that's what My Boy and I did for our summer vacation this year.
We headed out of L.A. and up Highway 49, the old Gold Rush Trail. Today I'm going to highlight our favorite stop between L.A. and Placerville, the little town of Columbia. It's still a place where people live and work, but it's also a living history Gold Rush town, and as such it's designated a state historic park.
My
Boy got panning lessons from Santa Ana Mike. He actually got a few flakes of
gold! And I learned just how much my fourth grade students are short-changed
when our local history places just hand them a pan with a few chunks of fool's
gold and say have at it. The real process is more complicated and is hard work,
requiring some concentration.
We
spent much (too much) time at the blacksmith shop. I'll forgive the young lady
her lack of historical costume, as she patiently put up with My Boy hanging over
the counter and firing endless salvos of questions at her. He would now like to
be a blacksmith when he grows up.
If
you do go to Columbia, and if you live in California you should, take a guided
tour with the State Ranger. You'll get inside more buildings and get information
you never would have received on your own. Ranger Mac was awesome. We're inside
a general store in this photograph.
Other
don't-miss experiences included a stagecoach ride, candle-dipping, and
old-fashioned bowling, just like the miners did it.There are beautiful bed-and-breakfast inns in Columbia, and we may try them next time. We stayed the night in Sonora, just a few miles down the road, at the lovely Gunn House Hotel. We enjoyed it so much we wished we'd booked one more night. The breakfast they served in a beautifully appointed room was the best of our vacation.
A few days later, we dined at a restaurant in Placerville, not too far up the road. The young hostess had never heard of this place. How sad that we are not valuing these pieces of our past enough to take advantage of the lessons we can learn from them. On that note, the California State Parks system is sadly underfunded, so much so that Governer Schwarzeneggar proposed the closure of 48 of them last January. On the list is Sutter's Fort, which I will write about another day. How depressing to think that our past is so disrespected that history is no longer being taught in some schools (it's not on the test, you know), and that we'd close down the places where people can go see it themselves.
As the poet George Santayana Said, ""Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Especially if you're a California resident, go here to learn what you can do to help save our state parks.
Posted by McSwain
