Ophir . Newcastle . Penryn
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Discover Ophir . Newcastle . Penryn 2015 BUSINESS AND VISITORS GUIDE FOR OPHIR, NEWCASTLE, AND PENRYN, CA A PUBLICATION BY THE AUBURN JOURNAL Newcastle Community Association Founded in 1988 More Than a Quarter Century of Public Service The Newcastle Community Association Welcomes You Please Join Us What is NCA? Friends and neighbors working together to improve the quality of life for everyone in Newcastle. What does NCA do? Some of our recent activities include: • Traffic Improvement • Fire Safety • Historic Preservation • Cultural Events • Student Scholarships • Honoring Veterans • Monitoring Local Government • Media Outreach • Christmas in Newcastle • Annual Spring Festival • Support for Local Merchants • Youth Sports To learn more about NCA, call 530-409-0877 or come to one of our monthly public meetings on the first Monday of every month except December, 6:00 p.m., at the Castle City Clubhouse, 1588 Lisa Drive, Newcastle CA 95658. Membership only costs $15 a year Discover Ophir . Newcastle . Penryn COVER PHOTOS BY ANNE STOKES Monument sign | Ophir Marshall Square | Newcastle Griffith Quarry | Penryn Table of Contents HISTORY ........................................................................ 07-09 HISTORICAL SITES ................................................................ 11 CONTRIBUTING ASSOCIATIONS ...................................... 12-13 MANDARINS ................................................................. 14-15 MANDARIN MAP ................................................................. 16 EDUCATION ......................................................................... 18 DINING GUIDE ................................................................ 20-23 TIME TRAVELER ................................................................... 24 PLACER BUDDHIST CHURCH ................................................ 25 WINE MAP .......................................................................... 26 REAL FOOD ........................................................................ 28 CALENDAR/THINGS TO SEE ........................................... 30-31 BUSINESS DIRECTORY A-Z .............................................. 32-37 LISTING BY CATEGORY .................................................. 38-40 EMERGENCY SERVICES ........................................................ 41 GRIFFITH QUARRY .............................................................. 42 Annual publication produced by the Auburn Journal for Ophir, Newcastle and Penryn 1030 High Street, Auburn • www.auburnjournal.com General Info: (530) 885-5656 or (800) 927-7355 CEO: Jeremy Burke (530) 852-0200, [email protected] General Manager: Jim Easterly, (530) 852-0224, [email protected] Project Director: Rebecca Regrut, [email protected] Writer and Photographer: Anne Stokes, (530) 852-0274, [email protected] Supervising Editor: Penne Usher, (530) 852-0245, [email protected] Art Director: Laura Smith. (530) 852-0276, [email protected] Photos: Anne Stokes and Courtesy photos Account Manager: Greg Smith, (530) 852- 0249, [email protected] Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The publisher shall not be responsible for any liabilities arising from the publication of copy provided by any advertiser for Discover Ophir, Newcastle, Penryn. Further, it shall not be liable for any act of omission on the part of the advertiser pertaining to their published advertisement in Discover Ophir, Newcastle, Penryn. A publication of the Auburn Journal. Serving the Foothills for over 34 years. Tractors • Mower Loaders ATV • Excavators Two Locations To Serve You Parts and Service 530.823.1200 530.272.7251 10230 Ophir Rd. 418 E. Main St. NEWCASTLE GRASS VALLEY ® www.goldcountrytractors.com Linda J. Donnelly, Owner (530) 906-0606 [email protected] Auburn, CA SEVEN Hand Picked..... FIRE PROTECTION Tree Ripened..... www.24sevenfire.com The Best Fruit on Earth. Fire Extinguisher Service & Sales Look for our fruit at Our Business is Keeping Your Business Safe www.millerhoneyfarms.com 6 - DISCOVER OPHIR, NEWCASTLE AND PENRYN - PUBLICATION OF THE AUBURN JOURNAL Photos courtesyPhotos of Placer County Museums History of Newcastle Fruit sheds A TOWN BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF GOLD (AND FRUIT) and later mandarins, traveled from Placer County to markets as far away as the East Coast. The fruit industry sustained the livelihood of much of the community, from orchard owners, to fruit pickers, to working on the The town of Newcastle has gone through several reincarnations since its railroad. In 1876, 1 million pounds of fruit was shipped out of Newcastle official inception over 150 years ago. What started out as a Gold Rush annually. community eventually transformed into one of the nation’s largest fruit packing facilities, with its produce making its way to markets as far away as In 1900, fire swept through the town, destroying much of Newcastle’s the East coast. buildings and businesses. Thought to have started in the centrally-located ice house, the fire burned down the Newcastle Hotel, multiple shipping Newcastle’s history, like many communities in the area, was built on houses, the local market, livery stable, the Good Templar’s’ Hall building, a foundation of gold mining. In 1848 James Marshall made his famous and several homes. By 1905, however, most of the town had been rebuilt. discovery, inciting a mass influx of fortune hunters into California. By However, fire decimated the town again in 1922, burning down much of the the rush’s end in 1854, it’s estimated over 300,000 miners had extracted town again, including the fruit sheds and Newcastle’s post office. Much of nearly $465 million out of the golden state. Newcastle, located in the Sierra the town of Newcastle today is a result of that rebuild. Nevada Foothills, saw its fair share of mining. By the 1960’s, Newcastle’s fruit industry was waning. With the 1966 pear Once the Gold Rush panned out, the miners that stayed turned to blight, a large majority of the area’s pear trees were destroyed, the result agriculture as means to make a living. With a temperate climate and fertile of which shuttered the Newcastle Fruit Growers Shipping and Preserving soil, fruit orchards flourished and in the 1870’s, the Newcastle Fruit Growers Association. Recently, however, the town has seen an agricultural resurgence Shipping and Preserving Association was created. In 1869, the historic with the success of several wineries and mandarin orchards. Transcontinental Railroad opened for traffic, connecting the East and West coasts to passengers and goods. Newcastle, with its proximity to multiple In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, Interstate 80 was constructed, cutting the agricultural areas, ice for refrigeration, and transcontinental transport, town in half. Since then, Newcastle has maintained its small-town charm, became the largest fruit packing facility in the nation. Peaches, plums, pears, earning its moniker “Gem of the Foothills.” DISCOVER OPHIR, NEWCASTLE AND PENRYN - PUBLICATION OF THE AUBURN JOURNAL - 7 Photos courtesyPhotos of Placer County Museums Newcastle 1908 - Baptist Church, Fisher’s Grocery anf Methodist Church History of Penryn Merv Doolittle TOWN BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF GRANITE In 1864, Welsh immigrant Griffith Griffith established a granite quarry on would soon evolve into the town of Penryn. quarter section of land leased from the Central Pacific Railroad. In February of 1865, the first load of cut stone was shipped and the quarry was open By May of 1871, Penryn was designated a voting precinct by Placer County, for business. While the railroad designated the siding “Griffith’s Granite with official recognition coming in June 1873 with the establishment of a Station,” Griffith had something else in mind. U. S. Post Office. By the mid-1870’s Penryn was an established community with a schoolhouse, hotel, blacksmith shop, two or three stores, and an equal Back in North Wales, Griffith, like his father before him, had worked in the number of saloons. At its peak, the granite works employed over 200 men, Penrhyn Slate Quarry. After discussing the matter with Central Pacific legal continuing to do so until Griffith’s death in February 1889. It was then counsel Edwin Bryant Crocker (eventual founder of Sacramento’s Crocker purchased by Griffith’s nephew, David Griffith, who continued to operate Art Museum), Griffith settled on the name and spelling we know today, on a somewhat smaller scale, until the latter Griffith’s death in 1918. By the dropping the “h” from the original Welsh to avoid the inevitable misspellings mid-1890’s however, fruit raising had edged-out granite quarrying as the that were likely to occur. The following day, Griffith recorded the auspicious area’s leading industry. event in his diary: “Concluded last night with Judge Crocker to call this quarry Penryn.” It was David Griffith’s daughter, Enid, Griffith Griffith’s great-niece, who left the quarry property to the people of Placer County when she died in Griffith’s employees all lived in the immediate area, creating a population 1976. In accordance with her wishes, the site of the Penryn Granite Works with plenty of people but no official town, only a small company store near is now a 23 acre park, with the former quarry office building, erected in the quarry. In 1869, Griffith’s Mercantile monopoly came to an end when 1877, now housing the Griffith Quarry Museum. The museum,