Columbia Diggins 1852

Diggins

Columbia Diggins 1852

diggsWhen: May 16-29, 2024

Time: 10-4pm

Cost: $10 Adults, $2 children age 5-17

Location: Diggins Tent Town (located near main parking lot

Event Description: Step back in time to the year 1852 and discover what life was like in a gold diggings encampment during the early Gold Rush period. Over 150 volunteers help to recreate this time in history by living the life of a miner, merchant, actor/actress, and more. Explore the tent town and discover a way of life not seen in California for over 150 years. 

Park visitors are welcome all four days of the event. 

School programs are provided Thursday May 16 and Friday May 17 by reservation only. To make a reservation click here

This event is sponsored by Friends of Columbia State Historic Park. 

Annual Reenactment of 1852 Gold Rush Tent Town

During the early days of the California Gold Rush, as miners streamed through the undeveloped hills of the Mother Lode, tent and shanty towns sprung up overnight.  Saloons, boarding houses, restaurants, laundries, express offices, and tent stores offered the homesick miner many goods, services and diversions, and the laws of supply and demand ruled the land.  It didn’t take long for enterprising argonauts to realize that mining the pockets of the miners was an easier way to get their gold.

At Columbia State Historic Park in Tuolumne County, docents and staff recreate an early tent town to demonstrate the daily life of the young state. “It was really an active merchant economy,” according to park staff who help organize the event.  “There were a lot of opportunities for people who knew how to provide a service, or were willing to bring in goods that were in high demand, such as liquor, dry goods, and provisions.  And miners were willing to hand over their newly acquired riches for a few luxuries.”     

DigginsPark staff and a crew of dedicated volunteers spend hours painstakingly researching the details of daily life of the early tent towns.  “We’ll never know exactly how life was like for those early visitors, but we spend a lot of time reading their journals, newspapers, and studying archeological remains” to cobble together a story of enterprising adventurers, looking to get rich, as well as to have a good time.

“Many people don’t realize all the opportunities for people who were willing to work hard during the Gold Rush.”  For example, women had opportunities in the gold fields and towns that they didn’t have in the East.  Men made up the majority of the population of the time and were willing to pay richly for the luxury of a home-cooked meal or laundered clothes.  It was not unusual for a woman providing those services to make more than the miners.

Entertainment At Columbia Diggins Tent Town 1852, visitors get a chance to wander through the early tent town, enjoy entertainment at the Theatre, step into the Saloon and order a sarsasparilla, or browse in the authentically recreated Brown’s Mercantile.  Bakers produce bread out of a stone and brick oven, and you can observe costumed docents demonstrating a variety of early mining techniques, and even get muddy yourself, if you choose. 

“There is really nothing like it anywhere else” says Amber Cantisano, park staff.  “It is the closest thing to time travel you’ll find anywhere.  Its pretty amazing.”

Educational programs for grade school students are offered on Thursday and Friday of the event.  Students get a chance to tour the camp and interact with characters from 1852.  This program adheres to the state’s curriculum standards, and provides an unbeatable opportunity for students to experience first-hand what they have learned in the classroom.  This program is very popular, and reservations are required. 

School tour reservations for the 2023 program are open and may be made online through Friends of Columbia - School Programs.

Diggins