Your Favorite Gold Country Sierra Foothills Town (Sacramento, Stockton: rental car, rental)

[Chimérique]

What is your favorite Gold Country Sierra Foothill Town?

Tells us why.

Add comments/facts such as cost of living, describe its microclimate compared to the other foothill towns, recreation, California history, housing options, jobs/economy, easy access to major metros/cities, amenities for tourists.

Here are the major towns off of the Highway that connects them all, Highway 49, named after the California Pioneers (the 49ers) who created a California so few folks know about......especially Southern Californians.

Sierra Foothill towns from North to South:

Downieville
Nevada City
Grass Valley
Auburn
Placerville
Diamond Springs
Plymouth
Sutter Creek
Jackson
San Andreas
Angels Camp
Sonora
Jamestown
Mariposa
Oakhurst

I've left out a few towns because they are so small and so few live there.

Fun Fact:
From a California coastal perspective, where in latitude do these towns correspond?

They would correspond from North to South:

Ft. Bragg to Half Moon Bay to San Gregorio (pretty far north, farther north than one would think)

From a California Central Valley perspective, where in latitude do these town correspond?

Willows, Yuba City/Marysville, Sacramento, Elk Grove in the Sacramento Valley to Stockton, Modesto, Manteca, and Merced in the San Joaquin Valley

[Chimérique]

My favorite thus far is Grass Valley and Placerville. They are the most wooded and green.

I've been going to Nevada City for years and always bypassed Grass Valley for some reason to my chagrin.

I was very impressed with Grass Valleys downtown and immediate housing stock surrounding it.

I looked at a 3bd 2bath immaculate home built in the 70's, beautiful front and back yards, asking $529,000.
1,500 sq. ft.

Grass Valley has Very good restaurants, very much retains a high quality old west walk-friendly downtown (old town). Nostalgic and vibrant: very clean, no litter, no graffiti, no homeless(unhoused), tons of family run businesses. Super friendly people. I felt like I was in a different state or country.

I've stayed in nearby hotels in Sonora, Jamestown, Mariposa, all wonderful little towns too.

Jackson and Sutter Creek are wonderful too. I have relatives in these areas who own a winery.

Oakhurst would be my least favorite, but still nice.

[Chimérique]

Some strange infamous and not so infamous History:

Sonora: is where a woman shot and killed a man in the County Courthouse, the man who molested her son....Feel free to fact check and provide more detail.

Mariposa: is where the trial occurred for a serial killer which happens to be the oldest continuously used courthouse in the West. The serial killer lived in nearby El Portal, the little gateway town 7 miles to the entrance of Yosemite. Mariposa is some 40+ miles to Yosemite. The serial killer murdered 4 young women. Two were teenagers. They had just spent a few days in Yosemite. The serial killer raped the two teenagers, killed them and burned two of the women in their rental car. The serial killer raped and then decapitated a fourth women and dumped her in a nearby creek.

Sonora and Jamestown: sites of the television series Little House on the Prairie.

Placerville: previously known as Hangtown, is where they tried to hang Big Foot but he got away. he made his way to the nearby Indian Casino Red Hawk, lost big time at a few Blackjack tables, and was later seen in South Lake Tahoe, some 45 miles away, playing golf lakeside. , they let him go....all fiction, Lol, except for Placerville's nickname its really called Hangtown, and Red Hawk casino is a real place.

[BeauCharles]

I said Mariposa because I lived in that county for 18 years about seven miles out of town. Its not the best, but it seems a little more like home even though I moved away in the early 90s. I also like Sonora and Murphys. I've never been to Nevada City and have only driven through the others on Hwy 49.

[Chimérique]

I debated about adding Murphys to the poll, but it is up the mountain east of Highway 49.

Also, I didn't add Oroville because it is too low in elevation, although hilly still not exactly "up" in the foothills, and its not along Highway 49.

Oroville (167 ft. elevation) is like Folsom (220 ft. elevation) hilly and at the base of a major lake, Lake Oroville and Folsom Lake.

I could do another thread for places like Oroville, Folsom.

[mgforshort]

Straight out of Wikipedia:

Originally established after the 1849 California Gold Rush as a mining camp, the town was first called Mountain View.[6] A dog breeding operation started in 1850 which led to the name Dogtown.[5] A post office opened in 1857, which was shared with the adjacent settlement of Mill City; the two eventually united.[5] In 1861 the name was changed to Magalia[5] after the Latin word for cottages.

On April 12, 1859, at the Willard Claim, a hydraulic mine in the Feather River Canyon northeast of the town, a 54-pound (20 kg) gold nugget was discovered, the largest in the world at the time. Dubbed the "Dogtown nugget", it made the town famous.[7]

[tikkasf]

Weaverville is described as being a Goid Rush town......but, it is not located in the Sierra Nevada Foothills


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weaverville,_California


Of the ones on the list above......I choose Jackson because I am familiar with that Gold Rush town.and not some of the others on the list. I also like Jackson

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by tikkasf

Weaverville is described as being a Goid Rush town......but, it is not located in the Sierra Nevada Foothills


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weaverville,_California


Of the ones on the list above......I choose Jackson because I am familiar with that Gold Rush town.and not some of the others on the list. I also like Jackson

I like Jackson too...it has awesome old historic huge bookstore, Hein & Co. and the historic hotel is pretty cool too.

[la_cavalière]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

My favorite thus far is Grass Valley and Placerville. They are the most wooded and green.

I've been going to Nevada City for years and always bypassed Grass Valley for some reason to my chagrin.

I was very impressed with Grass Valleys downtown and immediate housing stock surrounding it.

I looked at a 3bd 2bath immaculate home built in the 70's, beautiful front and back yards, asking $529,000.
1,500 sq. ft.

Grass Valley has Very good restaurants, very much retains a high quality old west walk-friendly downtown (old town). Nostalgic and vibrant: very clean, no litter, no graffiti, no homeless(unhoused), tons of family run businesses. Super friendly people. I felt like I was in a different state or country.

I voted for Nevada City. There's just something special about this place. The vibe is very unique. The town is spunky and charming at the same time. Deer Creek is gorgeous. And I can't think of a single stoplight or chain restaurant in Nevada City

However, I agree that downtown Grass Valley is pretty awesome too. I don't quite understand why Nevada City gets all the attention while GV, just a few miles away, is often overlooked. Marketing? History?