Two blocks long and almost entirely 19th-century, Jamestown's Main Street is one of the most intact gold-rush streetscapes in California. The boardwalk runs past iron-shuttered banks, a Wells Fargo office, a working livery building and a row of brick and clapboard saloons. The Emporium on the corner of Main and Willow — built in 1897 and listed on the National Register — anchors the block.
The street is the heart of any visit to the town. Coffee and antiques shops occupy most of the storefronts now, but the buildings are unchanged and the side streets behind them lead quickly into pastureland. Park at one end, walk both sides, and the whole thing takes maybe twenty minutes — longer if you stop at the National Hotel saloon for a drink in a room that has been continuously serving since 1859.