Jamestown
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Jamestown

Jamestown

Gold Rush town in California's Mother Lode, with preserved Main Street and working steam locomotives.

Jamestown is one of the best-preserved Gold Rush towns in California's Mother Lode country, in Tuolumne County in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Founded in 1848, just months after the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, it quickly grew into a lively mining camp and later a service town for the surrounding diggings.

Main Street retains a genuine 19th-century character — wooden storefronts, a saloon or two, and the Emporium on the corner. Railtown 1897 State Historic Park preserves working steam locomotives from the Gold Rush era that have appeared in dozens of westerns, including High Noon and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. You can still try recreational gold panning at nearby sites, or hike up Table Mountain for the spring wildflowers. Jamestown is about three miles from Sonora, the county seat, and makes a good base for exploring the Gold Country.

Guide

Eating Out

Jamestown has a small but solid scene clustered along Main Street. The National Hotel dining room is the obvious choice for a sit-down dinner — a Victorian dining room with reliable American cooking and a wine list that takes the local Sierra foothill vineyards seriously. The Service Station offers casual breakfast and lunch in a converted gas station, popular with locals. For a Mexican lunch try La Bonita on Willow Street. None of it is destination dining, but the National Hotel is worth a meal for the room alone.

Guide

Getting There

Jamestown is on Highway 108 about 130 miles east of San Francisco — roughly a 2.5-hour drive via I-580 and the Central Valley. From Yosemite Valley it is about 90 minutes via Highway 120 and Highway 49.

There is no rail or scheduled bus service. The town is three miles southwest of Sonora, the Tuolumne County seat, which serves as the regional hub for groceries, services and motel accommodation. A car is essentially required for the Gold Country — distances between the historic towns are short but the connecting public transit is minimal.

Guide

Things to Do

Jamestown is small but visit-worthy. The Railtown 1897 State Historic Park is the must-see, but the Main Street stroll, the old saloons, and the surrounding gold-rush back roads are equally rewarding for an afternoon.