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With only a population of 2,855, Nevada City features plenty of cultural activities. It has more bookstores than any other Mother Lode community, and art, music and theatre all thrive here. The county seat of Nevada City, it is located only a few miles north of Grass Valley. Miners first came to the area in 1849, when the place was known as Deer Creek Dry Diggins. By 1850, 12,000 men were working the rich placers of the region, then known as Nevada. Later, when the state of Nevada came into existence, and the town was renamed Nevada City. Then quartz mining led to another boom, so that by 1856, 15,000 to 35,000 miners were working within seven miles of the town, which had 150 stores, 14 hotels and 400 houses. The Coyote Lead, a mile-long placer deposit, yielded $8 million in gold by 1856.

Many fascinating buildings remain, including the National Hotel on Broad Street. The town features many beautifully restored old homes, some of which are now bed and breakfast inns. Firehouse No. 1, featuring a gingerbread-trimmed bell tower, is one of the Gold Country's most photographed buildings. It now houses a museum that houses relics from the ill-fated Donner Party (an early-day wagon train marooned in the high Sierras during a severe winter), gold rush memorabilia, and a Chinese Joss House. The Nevada Theatre, made of red brick and built in 1865, is California's oldest theatre building in continuous use.

Eight miles northwest of Nevada City on Highway 49 is a relatively new state park. South Yuba River State Park features wheelchair accessible hiking, great scenic vistas and more. Other side trips include Rough and Ready, a town where its 3,000 residents tried and failed to secede from the Union in 1850; Bridgeport, site of the longest single-span covered bridge west of New York; French Corral, site of the world's first long-distance telephone line, and Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, where miners tore apart hillsides using hydraulic mining techniques. Visit Washington, California and you'll feel like you're stepping back in time.

Images of America: Gold Rush Towns of Nevada County, is penned by Maria E. Brower, who also wrote a book for Arcadia Publishing about Nevada City. A skilled researcher and librarian, she showcases many towns in this book that are today a shadow of their boomtown selves or are gone entirely, towns like Washington, Rough and Ready, Spenceville, Red Dog, North Bloomfield, You Bet and Chicago Park. In the nineteenth century, however, these towns were busy places, as evidenced by the hundreds of fascinating photos in this book of people and places. Historical photos from the still-thriving communities of Grass Valley and Nevada City are also included. Detailed captions augment the text.