You may not have wondered lately where Weaverville is, but I’ve
just come back from there, so I’m going to tell you.
You may not have wondered lately where Weaverville is, but I’ve just come back from there, so I’m going to tell you.
Go to Redding, and turn left. Weaverville is about an hour away on a winding road through the Trinity Mountains.
Why should you care? Because Weaverville has some similarities to Hollister, as well as some perplexing differences.
Weaverville is even older than Hollister, having been founded in the 1850s by miners who brought their hopes from the Sierras to this area in search of gold. The economy of Weaverville and the rest of Trinity County shifted from small-scale to large-scale mining, then to lumber and timber industries, with a relatively small amount of cattle ranching taking place in the flat areas of the county.
Today, the economic engine of Weaverville appears to be tourism, as the Trinity River and its tributaries are popular among fishermen, and camping and other outdoor activities draw others.
As a result, the historic parts of downtown Weaverville are in excellent condition. Almost every building sports a plaque, courtesy of E Clampus Vitus.
The mining was successful enough for a while that large numbers of Chinese immigrants worked mining claims, creating a large and secure enough Chinese community in Weaverville to support a Daoist temple. Twice rebuilt after fires, it still exists as a State Historic Park, complete with interpretive center and hourly tours of the temple itself, conducted by volunteers.
The historical society maintains its own museum and gift shop. The museum includes indoor and outdoor exhibits, notably a large blacksmith shop where classes are held, outdoor workshops, and an in-progress wagon restoration building. The museum, gift shop and education sessions are staffed by volunteers.
Weaverville’s downtown supports a number of independently operated eateries, and retailers of antiques, crafts and natural foods. The Garden Cafe was so enjoyable I didn’t venture into any of the others. Run by three female partners, it serves breakfast and lunch seven days a week and dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each of the times I visited, during each part of the day, it was full. Patrons included both tourists and locals.
Weaverville even has an enormous new-and-used bookstore, with extensive selections in every category from murder mysteries to children’s books. While (according to the clerk I spoke to) probably 50 percent of the total stock is stored in cardboard boxes, the inventory system has them all catalogued so if you ask for a book they have, they can find it for you.
The population of Weaver-ville is all of 3,500 souls.
So I don’t get it.
Where are all these energetic volunteers coming from, not to mention the eager diners and enthusiastic book-buyers?
Why is Hollister, with about 10 times the population and a more diverse and growing economy, having so much trouble restoring its historic village (did you know we have one?) and supporting its non-chain restaurants and other retailers?
I’m not saying Weaverville is perfect, but they seem to have figured out a lot of things that have us stumped.
