Great little free museum next to beautiful White Pines Lake! We enjoyed the mix of indoor exhibits…read moreand real machinery outside.

Cool Museum that is open from April thru November (noon-4:00) on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Small…read morecute Museum that explains the Sierra Nevada Logging industry in photos, videos & informational signs. Outside there are several many retired equipment. There's a nice shady trail to walk in and explore. It's right next to the beautiful White Pines Lake

Drove from Roseville just to make a stop here. 2nd and 4th Saturdays they have tours. Worth the…read moretrip for sure. It is like going back in time for sure. All original items inside. You will learn all about how one man changed the foundry machining etc world. The docents are very knowledgeable and there are plenty of them if you have any questions. They also have a working blacksmithing area (and you can even sign up for classes) on their website. Also watch the youtube video on their website before going it is 47 min but wow so informative.

Went there with my dad who worked in a similar factory, so I'm clearly biased…read more We loved the tour. It had huge amount of details, working tools and set up. It really showed how it was. In many ways, time had stopped there and it's great for a realistic place like this. The receptionist and the tour guides were fanatics, hands-on dedicated people who never the stories and techniques used. They were very welcoming and great story tellers. The town is nice, too, and has a lot of food options nearby.

Amador City is the smallest town in California. Before Western settlers, the Miwok Native Americans…read morelived in the area. The mining town sprung up around 1853 due to the discovery of gold nearby. The town's historic Main Street now houses restaurants, brewery, hotel, boutique shops, historic buildings... and the Amador Whitney Museum. I luv museums... large and small... and this is no exception. Drop on in to check out the musuem. It is free of charge, payment is donation based. They also sell postcards of photos of places on Main Street in its heyday from turn of century. Pretty neat. The postcards are for less than a dollar apiece. Hours are posted on their website, but may vary since they are staffed by volunteers. Currently the listed hours are Friday-Sunday 11am-~3pm. Fee is donation based. The museum current display focuses on the women of the early days of the Western settling of the town. There were quite a bunch of remarkable women. They took on roles of miners, postmaster, business owners, farmers, and unofficial historians. The letters that many women in the early years of the settlement wrote were preserved generational and given to various museums and institutional archives such as UC Berkeley. Some displays are actual artifacts and others are replicas. The museum is small and compact. I enjoyed touring it. Another important tidbit is that museum is named after Mr. Jerrold Whitney (1939-1992), an art dealer, that bequeathed the building to the town for a museum. Previously it was his home, art gallery, studio, and store where he showcased art including that of his partner, Mr. Clayton Pinkerton (1930-1993). Mr. Pinkerton was a talented world renowned painter that studied at the Sorbonne. He bequeathed many of his paintings to be sold to support the museum as well. Some paintings are on display at the museum. They chose Amador City to be their home in 1983. Their generosity is truly testament of their love for their adopted community. This story is also an important part of Amador City's history that should not be forgotten.

This is an amazing place to visit and learn about Chinese history in the gold rush days. Everything…read moreis as it was an incredible. The docents are sweet as can be and very knowledgable. I would recommend this to anyone any age. It is fabulous. I am told they will open for large groups to tour which would be ideal and great fun. This is a photographers dream and any history buffs would be thrilled.

My wife and I decided to take a weekend trip up to gold country, and stumbled upon Chew Kee Store…read moreMuseum. As a Chinese-American, it was fascinating to see this snapshot into Chinese-American history! The docent was amazing and I really regret not getting her name but she was a wealth of history and knowledge. I'm definitely going to tell my friends/family about this little location and hope they're able to renovate the Chinese Gambling Hall and the General Store nearby. It's inspired me to get some more knowledge about my heritage and am likely going to try to learn more and more about the Chinese role in the Gold Country area.

Wandering around Sutter Creek killing some time before dinner, we stumble upon an open house / fund…read moreraiser at the general store. I have walked by it several times and peered in the windows, but it had never been open to go inside. Oh wow. Time had completely stopped here. Every item, every display was just left- dry gods to the right, hardware tools in the back, clothing, and groceries to the left. The General Store was started in 1896 by John Monteverde and son. The elder came to America in 1860 by the way of San Francisco. He came to Sutter Creek in 1861, like many others hoping to strike it rich during the gold rush. Later working as a stone mason. Married and had seven children. He died in 1918. His daughter Mary took over running the store. In October 1971, Mary placed a sign on the door saying the store would be closed a few days. The sign remained for 20 years. The city opened the store in 1992. Now as a museum the full shelves give a glimpse of the past. Even the old ledgers show the good and bad times of Sutter Creek patrons. You'll need to call in advance for a volunteer tour of the store and family history. Or get lucky like we did and catch a day that it was open

Weve been to Sutter Creek many,many times. First time this place was open so we decided to go in…read more Lets just say it is a time capsule ?literally) to the earlier days. 1950's and earlier. The docent was great and explained why it remained untouched for decades. If you look closely you will see some well know brands still around today

I am derelict of duties taking this long to write a review of this place... it's so friggin'…read morenerd-tastic!! First off- the book store downstairs has a beautiful selection of used books. Then, you walk upstairs and are transported to Holmes' London, and 221b Baker St.! Such cool stuff in there! I haven't experienced one of their private events yet, but with the attention to detail they give to everything else I have to imaging the events are spectacular!!

I attended a live radio theater production at Baker Street West (above Hein & Co. Bookstore) last…read moreweek and was absolutely delighted! The caliber of time, talent and dedication that it has taken to create this detailed glimpse into the past is something to be admired, indeed. I remember when Baker Street West was just the upstairs to a really cool bookstore. Now it has been transformed completely. The bar doesn't serve alcohol yet, but there are soft drinks and pastries to enjoy. There is a tea shoppe, an apothecary and of course, Mr. Sherlock Holmes' personal study (complete with bear skin rug). It's so fun just to walk around the rooms and take it all in. If you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes, this is your new favorite place.

Amador County Fair has all the basics of a small town, good ole local rural fair. The down side is…read morethat it's held annually in late July. So it's super hot that time of year. Sizzling summer temps. This year it ran from 7/27-7/30. They had... 4H livestock auction Rodeo Carnival rides Midway games Carnival food Animal petting farm Pony rides Hey but that ain't all the events. They have some that are particular to Amador County and sets them apart from its neighboring counties fairs. They are the Demolition Derby, steam powered old time sawmill, working old time gold mine trommel, Miwok Village exhibit hosted by Sierra Native American Tribal Council, tractor parade of late 1800s and early 1900s tractors, and live demo of 19th century blacksmith. The fair grounds is mostly on packed dirt including the parking lot. I attended on the last day of the fair. I did not know until I got there that it was was Demolition Derby night. I didn't stay to watch that but definitely bookmarked for next time. I'm a history nerd, so I did go to all the live demos and displays even though I was nearly going to pass out from heat exhaustion. I had to duck into the various air conditioned buildings to cool down. They had several buildings for vendors selling their wares, children's arts n play area, potted flora and plant fair entries, and arts and crafts fair entries.

We have wanted to go to this fair for a few years now. The Spazmatics have performed here a few…read moretimes in the past. This was finally the year we were able to go. Since the Spazmatics played on a Friday night, we had to go after work. Omg this event is huge in such a small town and small space. Of course the fair parking lots were full. Just like everyone else we had to drive around and try to find a parking spot some where in town. No clear signs letting us know parking was full until arriving at the lot a person standing near the entrance told us it was full. Then walking back to the fair after we found parking. There were no signs letting everyone walking back up know where an entrance was. Everyone working the fair at the gates and different food vendors were very nice. Seemed like a very welcoming fair. We saw people bringing in their own ice chests. Didn't see anyone getting bag checked. We tried corn dog, steak sandwich, soda cream, deep fried Oreo's! Yummy fair food! Had enough restrooms and easy to find. I saw many drink booths. The Spazmatics of course brought the crowd like they usually do. Just wish more Security was around the stage area. At one point someone jumped up on stage. Security finally showed up about 15 minutes later. By then the man finally got off of the stage. But almost fell trying to get off. The little fencing they had around the base of the stage lighting. Was so dangerous it was plastic and bendable metal rods holding it up on the four corners. We watched a lady fall right onto the metal rods and bend them back. Someone helped her up. I checked to see if she was OK. I was able to bend the rod back into place. But the crowd came back and everyone was holding onto the flimsy rods and knocking over the plastic fencing. No one cut anyone off when ordering alcoholic beverages it showed at the end of the night..this was only around 9:30 pm. We had to cut the night sort to walk back to our car a little after 10 pm. About a 20 minutes walk through a neighborhood. If we go back to this fair I guess we need to arrive very early and make a day of it.

Wonderful selection and kind staff and volunteers. It's always a pleasure to visit. The books to be…read morepurchased are incredible and so many services are offered for free.