Deer and calf sitting on grass
Architecture,  California,  Monday walks

Wandering around Weaverville

December 10, 2024 / 29 Comments

When we think of Chinatowns we think of big cities: San Francisco, New York, London. I was surprised then to read that the historic Gold Rush town of Weaverville in Northern California was once home to approximately 2,000 Chinese gold miners and had its own Chinatown. Many of the town’s buildings from that era remain, including California’s oldest active Chinese temple. That sounded like somewhere worth exploring!

When we left Eureka for the drive to Weaverville our aim was to arrive in time for lunch. We knew our evening’s accommodation had no restaurant within some miles so we planned to have our main meal at lunchtime. The drive across the coastal range was scenic although the amount of roadworks slowed us down even more than the many bends!  

Panorama of forested hills
The view from Berry Summit Vista Point, crossing the coastal range

Weaverville

But we made it, arriving in Weaverville comfortably before our chosen lunch restaurant, Mama Llama’s Eatery, was due to close. And the tuna melt wraps lived up to the online reviews I’d read.

Once we’d eaten we set off to explore this small, historic town. That really just involved walking down one side of the main street and back up the other. Not much of a walk perhaps, but a walk nevertheless, and on a Monday too!

It was a very hot afternoon, so we were glad to pop into several of the appealing galleries and shops, in one of which I treated myself to a small fabric bag sewn by a local woman. But the small museum I’d hoped to visit proved to be closed on Mondays. And more disappointingly, so was the temple, known as the Temple among the Trees Beneath the Clouds. According to Wikipedia, this houses Chinese artifacts from the 19th century, and is Weaverville’s oldest building, built in 1852. But the outside was unprepossessing, and the door was firmly closed.

Despite that we found plenty to see and photograph on our walk. There was a great street art mural, plenty of lovely old Victorian-era buildings and a small group of deer on a front lawn. The light was very harsh for photography, but I did my best to capture the charm of this small town.

Small wooden building with fire department sign
Saloon sign with picture of a man with a spade and pickaxe
Wooden house with lean-to
Street art mural of native man fishing with a spear
White church tower
Male deer with antlers sitting on grass
Scrap metal sculpture of an insect
Closed doors with theatre sign above

When we stuck our heads into the lobby of the theatre a friendly woman asked if we would like to sit in on part of the performance, which was just restarting after an intermission. But we knew we wouldn’t want to stay long and might disturb people, so we declined the kind offer.

In addition to the Chinese influence, the town is known for the ornate exterior spiral staircases on some of the buildings on Main Street. These were an ingenious way to evade taxes that were levied on interior staircases in the nineteenth century. I was reminded of the way in which British homeowners blocked up windows to evade window tax.

House with white balcony and spiral staircase
Shop with white balcony and spiral staircase

Two of the three buildings with their exterior spiral staircases still intact

We finished our walk in Up North Mercantile, a treasure trove of a shop with gifts, foodstuffs, bric-a-brac and, importantly, great ice cream. The perfect way to cool off after our walk.

Shelves stocked with packets and jars of food
Old telephone on a wall

In Up North Mercantile

The ‘Chinatown’ side of Weaverville may have evaded us, but with so much else of interest we felt it had been well worth the stop. Not to mention the tuna wraps and ice creams!

I visited Weaverville in September 2024

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