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City in California, United States
Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County in California's Gold Country.
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Empire Mine is the site of the oldest and richest gold mine in California. Despite having only 20% of the available gold extracted (5.8 million ounces of gold by weight) the mine closed in 1956 after 106 years of production and now is preserved as a California state park. The visitor center has diagrams and models of the mine, and numerous items of mining machinery are on show inside the park. Visitors have the opportunity to enter the top of the mine shaft. The state park also has many miles of riding, walking and mountain biking trails.
Museum that focuses on the mining history of the region, featuring mining equipment both indoors and outdoors.
With Grass Valley being a major 19th century Gold Mining area in the American West there are a large number of Victorian houses in the area. Wandering the streets of the city is a good way to appreciate these buildings and there are many excellent photograph opportunities.
Enjoy wine tasting at various locations in the City of Grass Valley and at some of the surrounding wineries.
Beautiful, historic movie theater in Downtown Grass Valley showing modern movies.
Excellent slightly alternative restaurant. Be prepared to wait a short while at the weekend, but be assured the food is worth it. Try the "south pine sampler", but be aware the Louisiana Hot Sausage can be fiery. The menu has lots of variety—options for vegetarians and carnivores. Great selection of liquid to wash down your meal, from fresh squeezed juices to beer and wine.
Chilean food. Fun mismatched decor, and pleasant staff. The bread balls they start you off with are melt in your mouth delicious and go perfectly with the dipping sauce and garlic butter that accompany them. The Agave wine margaritas are quite refreshing.
Large numbers of experienced miners migrated to Grass Valley during the gold boom, bringing with them the Cornish pasty. This shop keeps the tradition alive.
Dive bar in Downtown Grass Valley with many regulars and frequented by locals.
Local brewery with expansive tasting room, offering flights of beers.
Booktown is a cooperative of 14 independent booksellers with 4,000 square feet of Used and Rare Books, Ephemera, Books on CDs, Music CDs, DVDs, LP Records and Art. Each Bookseller has their own booth in the store that displays their special genres of books. Every book is coded and priced by each bookseller.
Locally owned clothing store that offers unique, limited hand screen-printed clothes as well as curated vintage wear.
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Sacramento · International · SMF
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