Old Sacramento retains flavor of California’s early days

With its brick buildings, wooden boardwalks and cobblestone streets, Old Sacramento offers a glimpse into what California’s capital city was like a century or so ago.

The eight-block historic district has the unique distinction of being the largest concentration of restored historic buildings in the West.

Old Sacramento can trace its roots to 1839, when John Sutter (born Johann August Suter in Switzerland) was granted 50,000 acres in what is now Sacramento by the ruling Mexican authorities (California was still a decade away from becoming a U.S. state).

Sutter’s properties expanded over the next few years and by the late-1840s, he had become the most powerful man in California. In 1848, however, one of his workers, James Marshall, uncovered gold on the nearby American River.

The discovery unleashed a flood of humanity that overwhelmed Sutter’s ability to maintain control over his holdings in the Sacramento area. Additionally, Sutter wasn’t a particularly good businessman, so his empire gradually disintegrated. He died poor and bitter in 1880.

Sutter’s town, however, fared better. Sacramento started out as a tent camp hastily erected in the mud flats around the Sacramento River. Eventually, more substantial structures rose—and these structures are now the heart of today’s Old Sacramento.

If Sutter was still around, he might know the Lady Adams Building, constructed in 1849 and the oldest structure in Old Sacramento.

The majestic building survived a disastrous fire in 1852 and, it is believed, was built using bricks from Germany that had served as ballast in the hold of a ship that carried the name Lady Adams.

Other buildings aren’t nearly as old—but are equally historic. For example, it’s possible to visit the hardware store where Colis P. Huntington. Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins, plotted how to build and finance the Central Pacific Railroad, the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.

The Old Sacramento Interpretive Center at 1002 Second Street offers displays describing the area’s history and offers regularly scheduled walking tours with costumed docents from March through September.

Of course, another good way to explore the area is by riding in one of the half-dozen horse-drawn carriages that offer guided tours.

Wandering Old Sacramento—with its hundreds of tourists and thriving restaurants, souvenir shops, antique stores and other businesses—it’s hard to believe that decades ago the area was one of Sacramento’s worst neighborhoods.

In the 1960s, however, Sacramento business and political leaders realized that hidden beneath the old waterfront area’s filth and decay was a modern gold mine—historic buildings from the city’s earliest days.

It has taken decades of public and private investment, but Old Sacramento has blossomed and now attracts about 5 million visitors each year. More than 120 shops inside of 53 historic buildings offer everything from out-of-print books to toy railroad sets to gourmet foods.

Old Sacramento is also home of the California State Historic Railroad Museum at 111 I Street, which has one of the finest railroad collections in the world (including several elegant Virginia & Truckee Railroad locomotives and cars).

Additionally, there is the Discovery Museum (101 I Street), adjacent to the railroad museum, which traces the history and development of the Sacramento area through the various ethnic populations that settled in the city.

The center contains a large collection of historic photos and exhibits and uses a unique series of computer displays to tell Sacramento’s story.

Old Sacramento is about a four-and-a-half hour drive west of Fallon on U.S. 50. For additional information go to www.oldsacramento.com.

Rich Moreno covers the places and people that make Nevadans love to visit.