It was a happy accident that I wound up here in Coulterville, CA…in the heart of the California Gold Country. My friend Susan and I were on our way to Yosemite to meet up with other friends for a long weekend.
We blissfully drove east along Highway 120 until we came to Priest Grade, a steep stretch of road that twists and turns its way up to higher elevations. A big sign said the road was closed. But fortunately, there was a detour…which took us south for a while…right into the town of Coulterville.
For the Gold Country, Coulterville is a boring name. This part of California is known for little towns and geographic locations with exotic names, usually selected by inebriated gold miners. Think I’m kidding? Here are a few examples:
You Bet, Yellow Jacket Mine, Smuggler Mine, Hangtown, Gold Hill, Poverty Hill, Rich Bar, Dutch Creek, Gold Run, Dutch Flat and Poorman Creek. Then there’s Grizzly Canyon, Rough and Ready, Jackass Creek, Humbug, Stringtown, Angel's Camp, Whiskey Creek, and Volcano. I know, drunk or sober, they thought these names were funny.
See why I think Coulterville is a boring name? The fact that it was once called Maxwell Creek doesn’t improve its image. Must not have been much drinking going on here back in the 1850’s.
Of course the folks that started the towns here had a unique name of their own. Gold was discovered in California in 1848. It wasn’t long before the secret was out and these wannabe gold miners poured into San Francisco in 1849 to head up into the hills.
This allowed them to call themselves 49ers…and while most people think they were named after the year, the truth is they stole the name from a small, relatively unknown, but rugged, football team that played their games in The City. The miners thought this was funny too.
But I digress.
While the name may be a bit mundane, Coulterville is a lovely little town of 201 people that really shines in the spring. Many of the buildings are from the 1850’s…its one of the last remaining unspoiled gold country towns (even the utilities are underground to help camera freaks like me).
The wisteria runs along the main street, from the Hotel Jeffrey to this assay office/antique store…and it was all in bloom this fine May day.
The Hotel Jeffrey was built in 1851, which explains why it was not called Wisteria Lodge. Too bad as Sherlock Holmes fans would flock there in droves.
But, there is also the wildly misnamed Magnolia Saloon and a Chinese store, Sun Sun Wo Co. And let me not forget Whistling Billy, an eight ton locomotive that brought ore down from the mines.
Such a lovely place to visit…but time was of the essence that day and we had to keep going meet our friend up in Yosemite Valley. Of course, that beautiful place had the great fortune not to be named by drunken miners. The native Americans who lived there called it “Awooni,” which in their language meant Big Mouth. They thought it was funny too.
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