Jill's Journal: Sacramento has got a good thing going. We had the most wonderful family day yesterday at Gold Rush Days. Held every Labor Day weekend for the last 12 years, Gold Rush Days takes Old Sacramento to a new level. Or an old level. The 1850s when California was a brand-new state, to be exact.
Old Sacramento is wonderful on any day: it’s a four-block radius, or 28 acres, of old-time buildings, cobblestone streets, wooden sidewalks, and old-fashioned candy shops (with plenty of modern-day merchants thrown in the historic buildings as well). This is the heart of Sacramento as it used to be and 53 of the buildings here date to the 1800s. Old Sacramento is a National Historic Landmark and a California State Historic Park.
But during the four days of Gold Rush Days, the clock in Old Sacramento truly gets turned back to the 1850s. The city takes more than 200 tons of dirt to cover the streets and make it look like even more like it did in the 1850s. That means no cars. Instead, dozens of horses, mules, donkeys, wagons, and stagecoaches abound. There’s hundreds of costumed performers dressed in 1850s-era clothing. There’s gunfights. There’s Union army camps. There’s old-time bands and bluegrass pickers playing music from the 1800s. The Pony Express runs through town. It’s like stepping back in time and talking a walk through history. This is nostalgia at its best. The girls absolutely loved it. Rob and I did too.
Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum isn’t an historic building, but is recreated to look like one. The girls loved sitting in old desks and being able to write on slate boards.
The Pony Express Monument is a fixture in Old Sacramento. The National Pony Express Association recreated the excitement of rides through town during Gold Rush Days, which was fun to see. About 750 of this group’s members annually re-ride the 1,966 mile, eight-state route from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento over a 10-day period. I so want to do this!
Here’s an example of the leather mochila with its four cantinas, or pockets, used to carry letters and telegrams.
I told Rob that growing up in Southern California, I’d never heard two good words about Sacramento. (Northern Cal and Southern Cal don’t always see eye-to-eye…they really should be two different states!) However, we’ve found Sacramento to be a diverse city with a lot to offer. And now Gold Rush Days has completely won me over. If one is here looking for what makes a place unique, this is a great town.
4 comments:
This is going to be a must do on my list of things to see when I come back to Calif. It seems to have started the summer Bob died and then I moved so we never got to experience this fun. I like old Town have fond memories. Do you know if they still do the hugh jazz festival on memorial weekend? That is also a must experience event.
Andee
Like you, I'd never heard two good words--or possibly even two words, period--about Sacramento in all my growing-up years. It never even occurred to me to investigate our state capital. (Our state history classes must've failed us miserably.) Seems I may have missed out on a good thing!
Andee, I don't know about a jazz festival, but if it's half as good as Gold Rush Days, it sounds like a winner! Sacramento clearly knows how to throw a party. :)
Miss Diana, see, SoCal and NorCal really SHOULD be two different states! Or maybe our state history classes really were just that bad. Most likely the latter. :)
What a blast this looks like. I think my family would have loved this as well!!!
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