Cheryl Anne Stapp

Last Saturday, January 24, 2026, marked the 178th anniversary of the gold discovery in California, an event that caused the largest migration in the history of the world up to that time. What did God think as he watched James Marshall pick up a few shiny flakes from the earth? Hard to say, because no churchman was present to offer an interpretation; in fact, organized religion in California, on that cold winter day in January 1848, was in a state of confusion.     The United

Getty Images Some would have celebrated quietly, of course; but New Year’s Eve December 31, 1925, was a bash for everyone in the Golden State who wanted to party hearty, despite Prohibition. The 18th Amendment was the law of the land; yet with several California counties defiantly “wet,” a thriving underground scene of speakeasies and private house parties characterized the holiday’s revelry.    Too, nineteen-twenty-five was mid-decade of the Roaring Twenties, an era known fo

Christmas will be here a week from tomorrow, celebrated with loved ones and good cheer despite all the tribulations of our modern times. As Christmas 1852 rolled around, the impact of the California Gold Rush—good and bad elements alike—was still a monumental social and economic influence, even though the invasive swarms of gold-fevered opportunists from all over the world had commenced four full years earlier.   California had been admitted to the Union two years past, but t

Nestled among towering peaks, a body of sapphire blue water 12 miles wide by 22 miles long, Lake Tahoe is a place of dazzling natural...

Harold von Schmidt was an American painter and illustrator who created western scenes so full of life that one believes he personally...

WISHING YOU A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

In California, and probably much of the nation, the 1880 Christmas season was a welcome return to the norm of years past. Said the...

Christmas Day 1870 was a bit unusual, in that it could be celebrated on either one of two days (or both, according to individual whim)....

Be thankful

Two weeks from tomorrow, we celebrate our national Thanksgiving Day.

California does have its share of ghosts, perhaps because of its turbulent, sometimes violent, gold rush era. All of the ghosts listed here,

Its detractors said it was fraudulent; said it was some sort of diabolical magic. Said it was witchcraft. Nevertheless,...

For centuries, the Upper Napa Valley was home to several villages of indigenous people, hunter-gatherers who recognized the beneficial...

Dropped into a pre-drilled hole and gently tapped into place, a 17.6-karat golden spike ceremoniously joined the Central Pacific Railroad...

In a career that spanned several decades, her various nicknames included “Goldielocks,” “The Girl with the Curls,” and most of all,...

She died young but her influence endures, not least because several of her works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places....

She was a poet, an editor, a teacher, a librarian, and a prominent figure in San Francisco’s literary community in the 19th and early...

In the bygone days of the 19th century, Californians celebrated the coming of a new year much like we do today, with parties, games,...

The Americans who trekked to California in covered wagons in the 1840s and later made that arduous journey because they wanted to find a...

During the chaotic early days of the California Gold Rush, the majority of the population were men who were far from home, seeking their...