Visit Date: November 6, 2021One of my best excuses for visiting the Gold Country and tracking down the historic stone and brick buildings ended last weekend. My son's high school cross country season finished. As he was a senior this was the last time I would get to use his cross country meets was a reason to head for Highway 49. This meet was at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, Calaveras County. Making for a nice quick stop on the way there was San Andreas and a photo of the IOOF Hall on Main Street. This building is old by the standards of this study, having been constructed in the 1856. According to one source, the Old Fellows used the top floor while the lower level served as an armory for the local militia unit, the Home Guard. Curiously a quick scan of the buildings found in the 1948 Division of Mines study, I could only find five Old Fellows Halls, one shared Odd Fellow and Mason Hall, and no strictly Masonic Halls. Seems like the Masons would have been better represented in the a study on stone and brick buildings. Curious? Unfortunately I think that San Andreas is unexpectedly going to be a bust for me in my quest to re-photograph that buildings from the 1948 Division of Mines historic building survey. There are four San Andreas buildings featured in the study, one of which was already listed as destroyed in 1948. (WHY EVEN INCLUDE IT!) However there are a number of other really interesting buildings in San Andreas that make the town worth stopping to visit. Right next IOOF Hall is the old Hall of Records, an amazing looking building. It was built well after the Gold Rush so it did not qualify for the Division of Mines survey. I wonder if I did a search if I would learn whether Hollywood has ever used it as a stand in for the Hall of Records in Anytown USA? Today it houses the County Museum and Historical Society. Seems appropriate. Just two buildings east of the Hall of Records (the Saloon in front of the American Hotel on the Sanborn map) is the current County Archives. I want to work there!
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AuthorMy name is Jeff and I am on a hunt to find historic brick and stone structures along Highway 49. Archives
January 2022
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