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Up The Road: Weaverville As A Museum

David Fulmer
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Flickr, Creative Commons
Weaverville Joss House State Historical Park

Lately we’ve been visiting museums. People often think of museums as musty buildings filled with dusty memorabilia and fussy art or artifacts. And OK, some are like that. But the definition provided by the International Council of Museums suggests many more possibilities: “A museum is a . . . permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates, and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.”

Credit Barry Swackhamer / Courtesy hmbd.org
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Courtesy hmbd.org
Spiral staircases in historic downtown Weaverville.

A mouthful, admittedly, and a bit dry at that, but also useful. For the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment, I say get yourself to Weaverville one of these days, a place in its entirety that surely could be a museum.

It can be breathtaking to roll into Weaverville—and disorienting, like walking onto a Western movie set somewhere in Switzerland. Those snow-covered peaks practically leaning into town are indeed alps—the Trinity Alps—and the Forest Service folks in town are always happy to help you get set for a good back-country trip.

But before you head out and up, take in some of the town’s museum-quality features. Historic downtown Weaverville is included on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s noted architecturally for unique exterior spiral staircases—an innovation inspired by gold rush-era multistory brick buildings that sometimes had a different owner on every floor.

Credit Photo courtesy of California State Parks
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Photo courtesy of California State Parks
Weaverville Joss House State Historic Park

Next on anyone’s list should be Joss House State Historic Park on Main Street (at Oregon), a lasting monument to the Chinese presence in Weaverville and the oldest Chinese temple in continuous use in California. “Joss” is an English confusion of the Spanish word dios, or God—which, used to describe a Taoist temple, is a reminder of just how many cultures came together during the California Gold Rush to clash as well as create an odd new society almost overnight.

Credit Photo courtesy of California State Parks
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Photo courtesy of California State Parks
Weaverville Joss House State Historic Park

First built in 1853 then torched 20 years later, the brightly painted wood-frame Temple of the Forest Beneath the Clouds (or, less poetically, Joss House) was rebuilt in 1874. It’s closed to the public when Taoists come to worship. Inside are three ornately carved wooden canopies; the red interior beyond the “spirit screens” symbolizes happiness. The ancient altar, more than 3,000 years old, offers up candles, incense (never burned now), an oracle book and fortune sticks, and glass-painted pictures of Immortals. In front are a table and an urn for offerings to the gods, both food and alcohol (usually whiskey). An original temple guardian “devil dog,” one of four stolen before World War II, all priceless, mysteriously came home again in 1989; the one on display is an artful replica, crafted in China.

Well worth some time nearby on Main is Trinity County’s Jake Jackson Memorial Museum, with an extensive collection of vintage firearms, mining equipment, Native American basketry, and Chinese artifacts. This ever-expanding historical society park boasts a relocated “ditch tender” cabin from La Grange; a facsimile blacksmith and tin shop; and the working two-stamp Paymaster Stampmill, the only active steam-operated stamp on the West Coast, still fired up several times a year to demonstrate the very loud process of pounding quartz until it gives up its gold.

Credit Eileen McFall / Flickr, Creative Commons
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Flickr, Creative Commons
Trinity River

Helping the town stand out as a museum, in the fullest sense, is the Weaverville Community Forest, some 13,000 acres of surrounding public forest lands that locals manage in conjunction with both the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service through “stewardship contracting”—pretty darn cutting edge, the idea of harmonizing society’s larger stewardship goals with community needs, protecting salmon habitat as well as promoting recreation and creating jobs at the local lumber mill. Come by to enjoy, study, and get educated.

For more information about Weaverville and vicinity, start with VisitTrinity.com and WeavervilleInfo.com.

Kim Weir is editor of Up the Road, a nonprofit public-interest journalism project dedicated to sustaining the Northern California story. A long-time member of the Society of American Travel Writers, Weir is also a former NSPR reporter.

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