Columbia, CA--Exploring the Town!

Here are some pictures of Columbia...


Saw this in a store window and just had to take a picture. Talk about reading between the lines.

Here are some pictures of the main street. Yes, it is an asphalt street, cars were allowed to drive through at one point in time. There are board sidewalks and most of the stores have giant metal shutters that close over the doors at closing time. The town looks much like it did 150 years ago.



You should of see the look on Chloe's face when we told her what this building was used for in the "Old West". She cracks me up!


Johnson's Livery had different buggies and buckboards inside. Including a horse-drawn hearse. There were old buggies and wagons through out the town adding to the authenticity.




The shops and building have been kept in good repair over the years but you can tell the wood is getting worn out in a few places.


Here is an old Mining Store set up so you can get an idea of what a store in the 1850s would of looked like. They even had living quarters for the store owner set up in the back. There is a small stable in the back of the store and a chicken coop which the kids thought was great of course.



Here is the original schoolhouse which was quite a hike up a hill overlooking the town. It only has two classrooms, one on the first floor and one on the second floor. It was neat seeing Chloe's reaction to what school used to look like. Aidan had to be carried part way up the hill so he could keep up. We were careful to follow the trail, signs were everywhere warning us to stay on the trail to avoid running into rattle snakes. Nice.


Here are some more pictures of us walking down the boarded sidewalks and looking into the various shops and businesses. It was starting to get crowded so we didn't get to pan for gold but the kids had fun watching other people do it.







It was a fun day of stepping back into time...