Thursday 8 September 2016

Nevada City and Surroundings


A few days after my arrival at San Francisco I rented a car and drove to Nevada City which is right above Grass Valley, a 3.5 hour drive with good traffic and if you know your way, I got a little lost and stuck so it took me 5 hours but I was not in any hurry.


It is in the mountains, with fresh air and hot Summers but snow during the Winter.


For almost a week I staid in Nevada City, but don't be fooled by its name, it is a little town in California, not a city and not in Nevada which is not that far away though.
The reason I staid there was that a dear friend who I actually met online through our blog was kind enough to let me stay at her place. While we met irl for the first time Juliette was the sweetest person you can imagine and both her and her family were very kind to me and made my first stay in America such a wonderful experience.


Back to Nevada City... or should I say Stars Hollow? The town is definitely like the town of Gilmore Girls, the church is almost identical! The town is completely historically protected and you are not even allowed to smoke on the street (I wonder if they have a Taylor).


Nevada City first settled in 1849, during the California Gold Rush, as Nevada. The Gold Tunnel on the north side of Deer Creek was the city's first mine, being located in 1850. The first saw mill built in Nevada City was on Deer Creek, just above the town, in August, 1850, and was built by Lewis & Son, with a water wheel. In 1850-51, it was the most important mining town in the state, Nevada County being the leading gold-mining county in the state. The town of Nevada was incorporated on April 19, 1856. In 1864, the word “City” was added to the name to relieve confusion with the nearby state of Nevada, and the town has legally been known as “Nevada City” ever since.


It has a population of 3000 and has lots of pretty shops, mostly very artsy, and chain malls are strictly forbidden so no Wallmart, McDonalds or StarBucks! Only little local shops, this big chains are in the neighbor town, Grass Valley.



As the old buildings are all preserved and the look of the town is like from 1850, the town has something like a fairy tale.



You can walk through town within the hour but there are plenty of shops to scroll through and it is a perfect place to enjoy some quite time.
Nevada City has tourists all year due to Lake Tahoe too, but not in a disturbing amount at all, you don't have to find away around a bunch of tourists to take some decent pictures like I had to do in San Francisco.



You can find all kind of Historical landmark throughout the town.




This adorable gate goes to the Two Room Inn, which is like a Gingerbread house, so very beautiful.






The 'white picket fences' are something you often hear in American movies, it way nice to see it in real life too :)






I walked in the morning, shops open at 10 or even 11, it is a calm life around there, it was very quiet when I was walking around.




I loved the wooden boards of the shops too, they look so vintage (which is the idea of course).



Dear Juliette was not only so kind to open her house she also arranged a meeting with a beautiful shop in Nevada City called KitKitDizzi which will be selling some of our Kilim Bags. The shop is ran by two lovely ladies who are native to the town and have been friends since they are 5. All items are beautifully handmade and I am thrilled to work with this beautiful shop, 219 Broad Street in Nevada City.



Speaking of Juliette, she runs the Art Gallery at the Miners Foundry which is another Historical space and you can still see the machinery of that time.


The Osborn Woods Gallery is full with products from local Artists including Juliette herself, right now all themed with 'Water'.



I was also lucky as I was there on the day Al Martinez did a demonstration and I learned his technique of riveting metal, which I always wanted to learn. I bought some tools for it and I will be trying it out at home these coming days. He is like a Leonardo Da Vinci with jewelry and he makes a lot of his own tools, he also has a very inspiring work space which I visited too!


9 comments:

  1. Impressing, I would like to pack my suitcase immediately and book a flight

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  2. What a quaint little town! (I've always wanted to use "quaint", first time it's actually fitting!)
    the shops look pretty awesome too for such a small place!
    thank you for sharing your trip, always cool to read about travels!

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  3. The Stars Hollow likeness is perfect! It looks like a really nice place, wouldn't mind visiting.

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  4. Wow! such a lovely town, like ginger bread houses. The shop looks great, they need one of your otoman chairs there.

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  5. Great travel-post! Love the architecture in that little town! So beautiful :) My latest hobby is gold panning and if Nevada City used to have goldmines I bet there is still a lot of gold left to pan in the surrounding area :D What a vacation that would be...

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  6. What a beautiful town! I really like the way you write about it and your pictures are amazing! I love the craft store and the gallery and wish you a long and successful business cooperation :)

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  7. Such a pretty place. Congratulations on your cooperation with the shop.

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  8. Thanks so much, Estella, for this lovely post about our little town 😊 and thanks for posting a the gallery and the store!!

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