As part of DH’s duties as Grand 3rd Vice President (PooBah!), he participates in dedications of historic places in California. This past weekend I went with him to Georgetown for the dedication of the Josephine Mine Cemetery. The mine is off a road near Volcanville called Paymaster Mine Road. This deep into the California back country ‘road’ is a kind word.
The Georgetown Parlor that worked towards unearthing this cemetery from the ravages of time did an amazing job. The cemetery is very small, but someday there will also be a NSGW memorial park at the site as well.
Last night I had a dream that the guys set up a souvenir shop near Wentworth Springs Road and Volcanville Road selling postcards and cemetery knick-knacks from a little wooden shed on the corner. They also had the cemetery added to the Automobile Associate guidebook. We joked that it would be a 3 star destination.
After the dedication there was a barbecue. It was a very nice BBQ at a nice location. I brought my own food, which was a very excellent steak that DH cooked for me. It was relaxing to just sit and chat.
Sunday we got up with plans to drive home, but it took us quite awhile to get on the road. It is hard to rush around from event to event. I would love to have time to just go when we wanted. Work is so inconvenient. I guess the way they get people to show up is to pay them.
One of our stops was in Auburn, California where all of Placer County was having museum free day. This is the heart of the gold country so, I guess, there are a lot of museums. One of the museums was called the Bernhard Museum. We went up there to see the wagons and carriages owned and maintained by the Natives at Auburn Parlor.
In one of the Bernhard Museum buildings, the Foothill Quilters Guild had put up a small quilt show. The wife of one of the Past Grand Presidents went with me to look while the boys chatted about carriages and boy stuff.
There was quite a bit of applique’, both raw edge and needle-turn.
This is a Verna Mosquera pattern and this rendition was made by Candy Brown. Candy Brown was one of the ladies manning the Foothill Quilters Guild table. We spent a few minutes talking with the two ladies. I also bought a couple of raffle tickets for their opportunity quilt and signed Mrs. Past Grand President’s name instead of my own. She would love to win and the quilt wasn’t really my colors. Candy turned out to be an unknown cousin of Dave, the Past Grand President. It suddenly hit me why people move from large urban places like the Bay Area to the boondocks.
As an aside, I have had many discussions with my Austrian friends about how stupid Americans are to move from their lovely urban homes close to public transportation, amenities like hospitals and traveling nurses when we retire. They claim to do the opposite, though you should understand that their large cities aren’t nearly as large as our large cities and the country is very close to the ‘city’ in many cases. Talking to Ms. Brown and listening to her and Mrs. Past Grand President talk as they found this connection, which expanding into knowing other people in common and having another cousin or uncle or something in common made me realize that in small towns people have the opportunity to meet people like this and have these kinds of conversations. We are rushing around from place to place trying to get everything done and there are sooooo many more people that we never have time to stop and talk to any of them. I felt like a bunch of puzzle pieces fell into place.
I saw this and thought immediately of Pam. There are cats in each window. I didn’t just take the photo because of Pam. I really like the shape and size of the houses.I also like the symmetry.
Fortunately, they told me where the quilt shop was so next time I head to Auburn I’ll go take a look. Stay tuned for that.
Volcanoville? Great name…must learn more.
A mine cemetery? Wow the history there would be fascinating – to find out where all of the people who were buried there were originally from and the stories of why the decided to travel to CA… I could get lost in that.
Your quick commentary on having time to stop and take the time to talk and find the connections between people is very thought provoking.
Yes, I think Volcanoville is a great name, but I don’t want to contemplate WHY it was named that. It isn’t terribly far from you, so you could go and visit. I looked to see if there was anything on the web about the Josephine Mine and I couldn’t find much beyond coordinates and brief mentions. I would imagine there are some journals out there somewhere that talk about friends being buried there.
What a great day! And to find a quilt show – frosting on the cake 🙂
I wish we could all retire early enough to be able to enjoy the time (sigh)
I guess we just have to take the moments when we can find them.
This morning I have been sipping my coffee and blog hopping to get ideas for my next art quilt… Imagine my surprise to land on your blog and start reading about beautiful Georgetown! You see, my husband and I were married there, taught school there, and raised our children in that wonderful community! We used to load up our cross country skis and go “upcountry”, past Volcanoville, to ski for free!! Raising kids there in the 90’s was like going back in time. Life was carefree and fun… nothing to worry about. I retired from teaching at Georgetown Elementary in 2005. I was part of an education community that was innovative, trusted, and beyond reproach. My husband retired from Northside School, in Cool, that was equally excellent, however, being closer to the big city, dealt with more current problems.
So glad you got to go back in time and experience The Divide. (Georgetown is called The Divide because it is a ridge that divides the south and middle fork of the American River.)
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a wonderful comment! I am so glad you stopped by! We really enjoyed our short stay in Georgetown (we were staying off Wentworth Springs Road on Mt. Cedar Drive (??) and it is nice to hear about the schools. We didn’t see many people other than those we were with. Unlike the City, there are no sidewalks and people don’t walk much from place to place, so you have given me more of a sense of the community.
We had breakfast at the IOOF hall on Saturday morning directly in Georgetown before we headed up to the Josephine Mine Cemetery.
Thanks again!