THE PLACER COUNTY HERITAGE TRAIL

My son, daughter-in-law & granddaughter live about 30 miles east of us in a tiny town that is just a few miles past Auburn, an historic gold rush town in the Sierra foothills. We have visited Auburn many times but it seems that we always stumble onto something new to explore.

Lou learned about an attraction in Auburn that railroad aficionados consider a must see, the Bloomer Cut. My daughter-in-law, Allison, told me about the Bernhard Museum, an old home open for tours, also in Auburn. This morning we headed out after breakfast to visit these two places expecting to spend a couple hours & be home for lunch.

After a short hike, we located the Bloomer Cut, a trench that was cut 63 feet deep & 800 feet long through solid rock. It was blasted out foot by foot by Chinese workers so the Transcontinental Railroad could be built.

The Bloomer Cut - these tracks are still used by Union Pacific & Amtrak.

While Lou hiked down to the tracks I occupied myself with photos of whatever was around. The background of this pine cone was pretty cool with all the colors.

At the Bernhard Mansion we discovered that this weekend is The Heritage Trail Museum Tour. There are 19 museums in Placer County from Roseville to Tahoe that are all open with free admission. There were special activities, a map to guide us & lots of places that are not normally open to the public. We decided to check out several of the museums then have lunch in Old Town Auburn.

The Bernhard Museum home in Auburn. We sampled hand-churned ice cream that was delicious!

The home is decorated with donated Victorian era furnishings even though this was a farmhouse.

Their state of the art "washing machine" - I'll keep my trusty Whirlpool washer & dryer, thank you very much!

Apparently there was a working winery on the farm.

Several of the museums were an easy walk from the courthouse in Old Town Auburn. We visited the Auburn Joss House Chinese Museum, the Gold Country Medical History Museum & the Benton Welty School Room.

This colorful altar inside the Joss House Chinese Museum dates back to the 1880s.

The Gold Country Medical Museum is located in the first hospital in Placer County. 

The Benton Welty School Room located in what is now Auburn's City Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The domed courthouse, perched above the town, houses the Placer County Museum.

There is a historical marker sign off of Interstate 80 for Griffith Quarry that we have seen numerous times. It turns out that Griffith Quarry Museum was one of the 19 museums open today so we stopped there on our drive home.

The office of Griffith Griffith (yes, that was his name) founder of the Griffith Quarry in Penryn, California.

Some of the granite rocks in the old 23-acre Griffith Quarry.