Or, ‘redneck,’ like ‘good ol’ boy:’ anti-government, far right, sometimes anarchists or even proudly unaware of contemporary politics. Here’s what I learned: ‘Rednecks’ were coal miners in Harlan County, West Virginia who were on strike due to inhumane working conditions. In a sign of solidarity, they would wear red bandanas around their necks. As they marched down the dusty street, corrupt owners and politicians in cohesion with law enforcement and ‘strike busters’ with ax handles would shout, “here comes those ‘rednecks'”, meaning here comes Trouble!

How about “Hat trick” which originated in cricket in 1858, when bowler H. H. Stephenson took three wickets with three consecutive balls and was rewarded with a new hat purchased from a fan collection.

Then:

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The idiom warns against forming opinions based solely on appearances, with roots tracing back to 19th-century literature.

In past Britain, book thievery was immense and booksellers would place worn and scratchy book covers on expensive books to avoid their theft.

The term “raining cats and dogs” derive from Victorian times when street drainage was so poor that pets left on the streets would drown during rainstorms. After the rainfall, the dead cats and dogs strewn across the streets made it appear as though it had been raining cats and dogs.

“Knock on wood” most likely comes from 19th century British children’s game Tiggy Touchwood, though older theories link it to ancient Celtic/Germanic tree spirit beliefs and later Christian symbolism. A superstition used to avoid tempting fate.

Naval Sayings – The Ultimate List of Nautical Sayings & Sailing Terms.

List from Gary Evans via MODELERS CENTRAL
Slightly edited by Traveling Boy, due to special concerns.

For 200 years the British Empire ruled 25 percent of the world. Why? Because they ruled 25 percent of the world’s waterways with efficient vessels and experienced sailors.

So, many British nautical terms are used today, but in an entirely different context.

Even Keel: To maintain calm and steady progress. Courtesy of The Ultimate List of Nautical Sayings.

Above Board: Referring to anything in open and plain view.
History: On a naval vessel, items and equipment could either be stored on deck or below in the ship’s hold. An item stored or viewable from the deck was said to be kept above board.

Aloof: To be in a state of indifference.
History: Coming from the Old Dutch ‘loef’, meaning windward, this term was used when referring to a ship sailing higher to the wind and becoming separated from the rest of the fleet.

Another Day, Another Dollar: A turn of phrase used with resignation to refer to a repetitive and tedious activity, such as the working week.
History: This expression dates back to the early 19th century when American sailors were paid a dollar for a day’s work. It was used in a similar fashion to today, in that sailors worked long hours in tiring conditions for only an extra dollar to their name.
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At a Loose End: To finalize the details or requirements of an activity.
History: This term refers to the final task of the sailor to secure the loose ends to ensure the vessel is ready and shipshape.

Bottoms Up: To finish one’s drink, often quickly.
History: This term comes from the common practice of tricking English sailors into joining the Navy when they didn’t want to. The sailor would be manipulated into “accepting payment” for joining the Navy by dropping a coin into his drink. Once the trick became well known, people would remind each other with the phrase ‘bottoms up’ to check their glass for hidden “payment”.

Cut and Run: To run away, to abandon something, to leave something incomplete.
History: Often thought to refer to the severing of an anchor line, the phrase cut and run is much more likely to refer to the practice of tying down the sails of a square-rigged ship with ropes that could be cut, rather than untied, if sails needed to be hoisted with haste.

Foul Up: To make an error or mistake.
History: Many nautical terms used the term ‘foul’ to refer to unwanted situations. Foul itself meant to be tangled up, or impeded of progress. A foul anchor is one that is entangled and unusable for the time being. A foul berth describes another vessel that has positioned itself too close to another and there is a high risk that the two ships will collide.

Figurehead: A noted leader with no real power or authority.
History: On a ship, a figurehead was an ornamental figure used for religious protection, or for purely decorative purposes.

First Rate: To be the best, of the highest quality, of the most skill.
History: From the 1500s through to the advent of steam-powered naval vessels, British Naval ships were scored from 1 through to 6, with first-rate having 100 or more guns, down to 6th rate, being frigates with only 20 to 48 guns.

Footloose: To be free to do as you please.
History: If unsecured, the bottom portion of a sail, called the foot, is able to flap and move about in the wind.

Gripe: To complain or have a problem
History: A gripe is a nautical term used to describe a vessel that has been poorly designed and so the bow tends towards the wind, causing the sail to flap, impeding progress and making the ship difficult to maneuver.

Grog/Groggy: To describe alcohol, usually of poor quality.
History: In the 18th Century, Vice Admiral Sir Edward Vernon decreed that each sailor’s half pint of rum a day should be watered down with an equal amount of water. The sailors nicknamed the Vice Admiral “Old Groggy” as he wore a Grogam coat on deck. The mixture of watered-down rum became termed ‘grog’, and those who drank too much of it were referred to as ‘groggy.’

Hard Up: To be in a state of need.
History: In nautical terms, to put the ‘helm hard over’ means to position it as far as it can go in a particular direction. The full saying. ‘Hard up in a clinch and no knife to cut the seizing’ was used by sailors to refer to the coming of grief with no solution.

Haze: To celebrate the arrival of a new arrival to a group by means of embarrassment or humiliation in order to instate authority.
History: In the seafaring times, captains and other levels of authority would demand their crew to work long hours during the day and into the night, even when necessary, for no other reason than to make them miserable.

Hunky-Dory: To describe a situation as being pleasant, moving as expected, going ok.
History: This naval saying is thought to come from American Sailors who used the term to describe a popular street in Japan called Honcho-Dori which was frequented by lonely sailors.

Keel Over: To fall over or pass away.
History: Even today, the keel is a fundamental component of most types of sailing ships. It acts as a counterbalance for the mast and keeps the boat stable in conditions that would otherwise cause the boat to capsize. If a ship “keeled over” it had rolled over and began sinking, or on land, simply fallen over.

To Know the Ropes: To be familiar/competent in a particular task.
History: Tall ships sailed by the navy prior to the advent of steam-powered vessels were operated by a series of ropes that controlled the mechanisms and pulleys that operated the sails. These rope-based systems were complex, and so sailors were required to memorize the configurations, so they were used correctly. This obviously took time, so a less experienced sailor might not “know the ropes” as well as one who had been sailing for longer.

Son of a Gun: An exclamation of surprise, annoyance, aggression.
History: In the event that a child was born aboard the ship from the wife or temporary companion of one of the crew members, often on the gun deck. If no one knew who the father was, they were logged as being the “son of a gun.”

To Let the Cat Out of the Bag: To unveil what was previously unsecured or secret.
History: In the early days of sailors, the ‘cat o nine tails’ was the name for a whip constructed from rope with unbraided ends that left wounds on the back similar to the scratches of a cat.

Long Shot: A situation where the intended or preferred outcome is considered unlikely to occur.
History: Old naval warships used cannons as their main form of weaponry, which often were hit and miss in terms of accuracy. Different cannons also had varying maximum ranges which depended on their design, age and quality. If a vessel was to fire beyond its range and deliver a long shot, it was unlikely that it would hit its target.

Loose Cannon: Used to describe a person, object or situation that is unstable or likely to cause trouble if left unattended.
History: Due to their massive weight, cannons on a sailing ship were secured to prevent them from moving about with the waves of the sea, as a loose cannon would cause immense damage to the sailing vessel or crew.

Overbearing: To manipulate a state of power in a fashion that makes others uncomfortable
History: This term refers to the act of sailing downwind of another ship, blocking or ‘stealing’ their wind, slowing them down.

Overwhelm: To be in a state of emotional overload or to be taken over by something
History: This naval term is derived from the Old English for a boat that has capsized.

Poop: To be washed out, tired.
History: In terms of the actual structure and layout of the ship, the highest deck at the back of the vessel was called the poop deck. If a ship were to become breached by a large wave that flooded the vessel from the back, she was said to have been pooped.

Slush Fund: An amount of money assigned to the use of bribe or influence.
History: In the 1800’s, a mixture of fat would be sold ashore by the ships cook that would be gathered from boiling the salted beef for food at sea. This money was then used for the benefit of the crew or the cook himself and called the ‘slush fund.’

Scuttlebutt: Rumour or gossip.
History: In seafaring times, sailors would exchange gossip in a scuttlebutt. This was a water barrel with a hole in it that was used to dispense drinking water.

Shake a Leg: To get out of bed, to get moving.
History: It is believed that in the early naval days, this term was used as a command for crew members to step out of their hammocks and begin preparations for the day. It is also believed that the term may have come from the fact that women were allowed on board when the ship was in port, and thus the crew knew when a woman was still aboard and needed to be woken up and moved ashore before setting sail.

Square Meal: A good quality, nutritious meal.
History: This term was most likely derived from the fact that sailors were served their meals on square shaped plates. However, from the 1500s onwards, the word ‘square’ meant that something was upstanding, proper or straightforward.

Three Sheets to the Wind: To be in a state of intoxication.
History: On a ship, a rope is called a sheet. If the sheets on a three-masted rigged ship became loose on the three lower-course, the sails would begin to flap about and the ship would lose all purposeful direction.

Under the Weather: To be feeling ill, not yourself.
History: On an early naval vessel, various watches were assigned to crew members to keep an eye out for danger. Often considered the worst watch station one could be assigned, the ‘weather’ side of the bow was often subject to the pitching and rolling of the ship, as well as the numerous waves that would break over the bow. The crew member assigned this watch would end their shift drenched and described as having been ‘under the weather.

Turn a Blind Eye: To ignore, to pretend you did not see something.
History: This commonly used saying originates from the actions of Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Copenhagen. In the battle, a signal was given to cease fighting and retreat. In response, the Admiral held his spyglass to his blind eye and later insisted he had not seen the signal.

Hey, that was fun.
With thanks to 116 Naval Sayings – The Ultimate List of Nautical Sayings

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Professor Sir Ludwig is renowned as the father of the Paralympic movement. He was the medical pioneer who proved that disabled sport could be as competitive and exciting as a non-disabled sport.  In September 1943, he took charge of the National Spinal Injuries Unit at Stoke Mandeville in England. He implemented his own theories on how best to treat patients who had paraplegia by introducing rehabilitation through sport. This led to national competitions, then to the International Stoke Mandeville Games and finally the Paralympic Games, which has become the third largest sporting event in the world.

The Beginning

Born in Germany in 1899, then later volunteering at an accident hospital in Königshütte in 1917, he encountered his first paraplegic patient, a coal miner with a spinal fracture. 

By 1933, Guttmann was working in Breslau (now Worclaw, Poland) as a neurosurgeon and lecturing at the university. Guttmann was expelled from his university appointment and his job in 1933 under the Nuremberg Laws, and his title was changed to Krankenbehandler (one who treats the sick). With the arrival of the Nazis in power, Jews were banned from practicing medicine professionally; Guttmann was assigned to work at the Breslau Jewish Hospital, where he became medical director in 1937. Following the violent attacks on Jewish people and properties during Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) in November 1938, Guttmann ordered his staff to admit any patients without question. The following day, he justified his decision on a case-by-case basis with the Gestapo. Out of 64 admissions, 60 patients were saved from arrest and deportation to concentration camps.  

Earlier, in 1928, Guttmann was told to start a neurosurgical unit in Hamburg, but this post only lasted a year when he was instructed to return to Breslau as a first assistant. He remained in this job until 1933 when, under the Nuremberg Law, the Nazis forced all Jews to stop practicing medicine at Aryan hospitals.  Under such oppression, Guttmann became neurologist to the Jewish Hospital in Breslau and was elected Medical Director of the whole hospital in 1937.

On November 9, 1938 (Kristallnacht), Guttmann gave orders that any male person entering the hospital was to be treated, despite the racial laws specifying that Jewish doctors could only treat Jewish patients.  The following morning, he had to justify the large number of admissions (64 patients) to the SS and the Gestapo.

Like all Jews, Guttmann’s passport had been confiscated, and he was not allowed to travel; however, in December 1938 he was ordered to travel to Lisbon to treat a Portuguese associate of the dictator, Salazar.  On his return journey he was granted permission to go to England for two days.  He managed to secure a visa and emigrate to England with his wife and two children. Guttmann was already in contact with the British Society for the Protection of Science and Learning and was offered a grant.

Guttmann started his medical studies in April 1918 at the University of Breslau.  He transferred to the University of Freiburg  in 1919 and received his Doctorate of Medicine in 1924.

Escaping to Britain

The Guttmann family left Germany on the 14th of March 1939, and went to Oxford where the family found a small house to live in. Guttmann was working at the Radcliffe Infirmary and at St Hugh’s College Military Hospital for Head Injuries. In 1943 he was asked by the Government to become Director of the new National Spinal Injuries Centre at the Emergency Medical Services Hospital at Stoke Mandeville. He accepted the post on the condition that he could treat patients in his own way with no interference.

1944-66 The National Spinal Injuries Centre

The new Spinal Injuries Unit was opened at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in February 1944 with Dr Guttmann in charge. It had 24 beds and one patient. It was initially very poorly resourced, but the medical need was clear; within six months Guttmann had nearly 50 patients.

When Ludwig Guttmann started work at the Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville, the average life expectancy for paraplegics was only two years from the time of injury. Guttmann refused to accept that a spinal injury was a death sentence, and his advancements in the treatment of paraplegia revolutionized the field. He influenced and taught a whole generation of physicians from all over the world in his methods, and centers were established worldwide.

Rehabilitation

An important part of the treatment was to ensure that patients maintained one hope of making progress and returning to their previous life. Patients took part in activities to keep them active – a social rehabilitation as well as a medical one. Workshops where the patients could do woodwork and clock and watch repairing were set up in the hospital. But it was the encouragement of sporting activities that was to make the greatest impact on the wards. The first sport was wheelchair polo using walking sticks and a puck, but this was soon replaced by wheelchair basketball. Guttmann noted that in mixed basketball games between wheelchair athletes and non-wheelchair players that the wheelchair athletes would generally win, having stronger upper muscles.

Archery was also popular; it too relied on upper body strength which meant that paraplegics could compete with their non-disabled counterparts, and it was archery that was the first competitive sport at the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948.

1966-80: Retired but still active

Following his retirement from the Spinal Injuries Centre in 1966, he continued to be focused with the games and the national and international organisations, both sports and medical. That year he was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen, becoming Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann. In 1969, a new sports center was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on the Stoke Mandeville Hospital grounds, later renamed ‘Ludwig Guttmann Sports Centre for the Disabled’ after his death.

As well as his involvement with the games, he continued to travel and lecture on spinal injuries all over the world, continuing to educate and influence others with his theories and methods. However, it was his leadership of the disabled sports organizations that occupied him through the late 1960s and 1970s. It was in the 1970s that Guttmann spear-headed the conversations with the International Olympic Committee about the use of the term, and the later establishment of the International Paralympic Committee.

It was Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann’s drive for disabled sportsmen and women to be included in the Olympics that gives us the Paralympic Games today. The London 2012 Paralympic Games showed how close the world has got to Guttmann’s vision with the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games being organised in tandem. However, there is still a way to go to see the two events combined into one sporting event where disabled athletes compete alongside their non-disabled counterparts.

Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann died March 18, 1980 of heart failure. He did not live to see his vision realized, but his work continues through the current disabled sports organizations and through the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville, which continues to be a world leader in the treatment of spinal injuries.

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The Night Witches were the all-women pilots of Russia’s 588th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. In World War II, the Night Witches were the first women military pilots in the 20th century to directly engage an enemy in combat.

One the most horrifying sounds a German soldier on the Russian front could hear in the dead of night was the “whooshing” of the wind off the struts of a Night Witch jerry-rigged biplane bomber. It was described as the eerie sound of a witch’s broom as it quietly glided in to drop its payload of bombs.

Unfortunately, there weren’t enough modern planes to go around. So, the 588th was given out-of-date Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes that were primarily used as crop dusters and training planes. The pilot sat up front and the navigator, who also was the bombardier, sat in the rear. The plane was like a death trap waiting to spring. Some Night Witches likened the rickety Po-2 to “a coffin with wings” because the plane was made of plywood with canvas stretched over it. If a tracer bullet struck the plane, it could easily burst into flames. The plane’s top speed was 90 miles per hour, and it could carry only two bombs, one under each wing. The weight of the bombs and crew forced the plane to travel low, which allowed it to be spotted easily by the enemy. Because of those handicaps, the planes could only fly at night, under the cover of darkness.

The Night Witches carried no parachutes because they flew so close to the ground and parachutes also added extra weight. They also had no modern instruments and had to rely on maps, compasses, stopwatches, pencils, and flashlights to find their way to their objectives. Because the cockpits were open, the pilot and navigator were exposed to the elements, including rain and freezing wind. In extremely cold weather, they could get frost bite. If they put their bare hand on the fuselage, the flesh might come off when they pulled their hand away. The Night Witches also carried pistols to use if they crashed, but would save the last bullet for themselves so they wouldn’t be captured alive.

The Po-2 did have some advantages, however. Its light weight made it more maneuverable than the German planes, which made them harder to shoot down. Being made of wood and canvas, the plane didn’t show up on German radars or infrared indicators. And the top speed of the Po-2 was slower than the stall speed of German fighter planes, making it hard to engage from the air. The biplanes also could take off and land almost anywhere. That quality was essential because the 588th had to operate very close to enemy lines, constantly moving operations during the day so the women could fight at night. Because of their combat schedule, the women slept and trained during the day and flew during the night. Understandably, they didn’t get a lot of sleep… but neither did the German units nearby that had to be prepared for nighttime air raids. The psychological effect of the Night Witch raids took a nightmary toll on the German troops.

Because their planes could carry only one or two bombs, the Night Witches flew multiple bombing sorties – from eight to eighteen – in a single night. They’d drop the bombs, return to their temporary base, refuel and take on more bombs, and then fly off on another sortie. Each sortie lasted between 30 to 50 minutes. Sometimes the Night Witches would return with planes riddled with bullet holes. Nadezhda Popova, one of the most famous Night Witches, once returned from a sortie with 42 bullet holes in her plane as well as in her helmet and map. Another pilot lost the bottom of her plane to enemy fire but kept on flying.

Thirty-two Night Witches died in service. Eighty-nine Soviet women won their country’s highest honor, the Hero of the Soviet Union award.

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The time and place: The 1849 California Gold Rush.

In the 1840s, Las Californias — the collective name for Alta California and the Baja California Peninsula — was the ancestral homeland of the indigenous Nisenan Maidu people. Their population had already been reduced to less than 100,000 people, due to the spread of European diseases — primarily a malaria epidemic — brought by Spanish and U.S. expeditions. Californios (people of Spanish or Mexican descent) made up approximately 14,000 of the other permanent residents, which included 2,500 “foreigners” (whites of non-Hispanic descent).

But, by 1849, more than 100,000 get-rich-quick migrants had arrived from all over the world — and they came for one reason: GOLD. In January of 1848, James W. Marshall discovered the first gold nugget, while reviewing the construction of Sutter’s Mill, situated in the Nisenan village of  Koloma (known today as  Coloma) on the South Fork American River.

Though Marshall tried to keep the discovery quiet, the news soon spread like a California wildfire, creating the largest Gold Rush in U.S. history. Californios called the area La Veta Madre (The Mother Lode), while others referred to the rugged migrants as 49ers, due to their year of arrival. Las Californias was still a part of Mexico, but eventually would sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, that ended the Mexican-American War in 1848. Two years later, California joined the U.S. union as the 31st state.

Camp settlements sprang up wherever gold was found, and then were abandoned when they ran out.  The excessive use of ‘working the land’ caused a strain on the environment, prompting a drought and starvation. Then, in one of the darkest periods in U.S. history, genocide was committed by the new Anglo-American migrants, massacring thousands of Nisenan Maidu and Miwok tribal people or forcing them into labor. President Zachary Taylor had created a new federal agency — the Department of the Interior — and transferred ‘Indian’ affairs to its care from the War Department. Under Chapter 133, a white non-Hispanic American could claim Nisenan Maidu and Miwok land by simply presenting a request to the local justice of the peace. A white American could also kidnap Native American children and ‘adopt’ them — or keep the youths as unpaid field hands until they reached the age of maturity. Chapter 133’s most abhorrent clause stated, “In no case shall a white man be convicted of any offence upon the testimony of an ‘Indian’, or ‘Indians.’” With those 20 words, California effectively legalized the rape, robbery and murder of any Amerindian within the boundaries of the state.

White settlers went on a rampage, killing the people of tribal nations, with the reward of selling scalps for 25 cents and more than $5 for severed heads. The prices for enslaved children were up to $60 for young boys and up to $200 for young girls.

The law’s final section established a form of state-sponsored fascism: “Any able-bodied ‘Indian’ who shall be found loitering and strolling about shall be liable to be arrested on the complaint of any resident citizen of the county.”

Through the indiscriminate use of terrorism and murder, California’s 49ers carried out one of the most successful — and, until recently, largely unacknowledged — campaigns of systematic ethnic cleansing that the world had ever seen.

It was so successful that Adolf Hitler later spoke with admiration about the slaughter and the overall genocide of Amerindians. When Hitler was reluctantly selected as German Chancellor by the ageing president, Paul von Hindenburg in 1932, he took offence when the U.S. first  verbally attacked the new Nazi Third Reich for discriminating against Germans of Jewish ancestry. He countered by labeling the U.S. as hypocrites for claiming the United States to be the ‘land of freedom,’ when African-Americans were clearly regarded as second class citizens. Later, with VE Day around the corner in 1945, many African-American army troops (then segregated until president Harry Truman) desperately wanted to stay in Europe for they were treated with great esteem by the populace as gallant liberators. People would rush out onto the streets, showering them with wine, flowers and kisses – almost a lynching offence in the U.S. Jim Crow south.

The Conquest of the Californios

Once the many inexperienced American gold miners realized that finding gold was not as easy as they expected, they took their anger out on the Californios.  Racism and nativism became increasingly common, and white settlers began living on the Californios’ land without their permission. Soon violence erupted, where crops and cattle were destroyed. Californios were chased out of their ranch haciendas that had existed for generations. Those who would take a stand often found their homes torched to the ground, or were lynched by savage mobs. Californios that managed to stay in their homes, faced an extra tax and long courtroom battles.

African-American Slavery in the ’49 Gold Rush

White southerners brought black slaves into the California camp settlements as early as the summer of 1849. Slavery wasn’t popular in the mines, but there were no laws barring it in the early days of the Gold Rush. In Washington, DC, Congress was embroiled in a rancorous debate over whether the land acquired during the Mexico War, including California, would be admitted to the union as free or slave states. The nation was evenly divided, with 15 states free and 15 states slaveholding. California would tip the balance, becoming a state free of slavery. The back population of Gold Rush California was not large, comprised roughly of only one percent of the population. The significance of their story is not in their number, but in the moral force and courage that African-Americans were able to exert, which lead to the ‘Negro Rights’ struggles for freedom in California.

The Chinese from Canton

Chinese immigrants arrived by the thousands during the 1850s, and began mining in large numbers relatively late, but were subjected to the dominant prejudices of the time. Most of the ignorant Anglo-American migrants had never even seen a Chinese person before, and that ignorance led to anger. The Chinese tried to avoid direct confrontation with the white miners, but American rage boiled over in 1852. When the southern mining town of Columbia held a mass meeting, they passed a resolution forbidding “these burlesques on humanity” from mining in their town. Another miner’s tax was passed, targeting Chinese. Like Californios and Amerindians, Chinese were routinely harassed and driven out of diggings. Eventually they settled in their own mining camp, first known as ‘Camp Washington’ or ‘Washingtonville,’ which had already had been mined and discarded by American miners.

Soon the camp was called ‘Chinee’ or ‘Chinese Camp’ and ‘Chinese Diggings.’ An 1860 diary indicates that Chinese Camp became a small metropolis, comprised of a post office, a bank and homes to at least 5,000 Chinese laborers, with many eventually living in urban comfort. The new Chinese-Americans worked the mines and were successful where other miners had given up. The gold lay just below the surface of the ground, but the work was hard due the lack of nearby water. All the gold had to be hauled to a creek to be cleansed. While placer mining had played out in much of the Gold Country by the early 1860s, it was still active at Chinese Camp as late as 1870. An 1899 mining bulletin listed the total gold production of the area close to 2.5 million dollars.

Historical Sites, Now

Today, there are a number of high profile camps to visit — which includes Chinese Camp. Fortunately, some of the remnants of the settlement still exist today. It’s easy to find — right on Highway 49 about 5 miles south of Jamestown. The historical landmark is located at the Northwest corner of State Highway 120 (P.M. 15.9) and Main Street in Chinese Camp. This site is part of the Mark Twain Bret Harte Trail.

Chinese Camp

Chinese Camp currently has less than 200 residents, but there is ample evidence of its colorful past, despite disrepair and some structures surrounded by barbed wire. The Saint Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, established in 1849, is the oldest church in the county. It sits on a hill next to a cemetery, overlooking the town, making an ideal stop for a visual overview of the camp. The first post office and store opened in 1854. As the town grew, Chinese Camp became a transportation hub for stagecoach lines and express offices. The town was composed of hotels, two joss houses (Chinese temple of worship), blacksmith shop, school, and the first Adams Express, which existed before Wells Fargo was established as a viable business.

Gold Country South

Located near Yosemite National Park, Tuolumne County is the recreational and cultural center of California Gold Country. It is an area of immense beauty with rivers flowing through lush canyons and forested mountains towering above. The Nisenan Maidu coined the name Chullia, which translates to paradise. Like most tribal nations, they did not believe in ownership of land and space — how can one own the air?— but as stewards for its protection. As you explore Gold Country, keep in mind that history is written by the victors; so you may experience a somewhat sanitized Anglo version of past events, despite some park rangers doing the opposite. I remind myself that the 1849 California Gold Rush is very much part of our heritage as Californians and Americans.  After all, there’s a chance that I wouldn’t even be currently living in Southern California if it weren’t for the Gold Rush.

Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park

This is where it all began: the sawmill where Marshall first discovered gold. There are demonstrations at a working replica of the original mill, museum and several restored historic buildings now part of California’s state park system. With a map from the museum, you can guide yourself on tours of the town, the cemetery, the Monument Trail, and the Monroe Ridge Trail.

Columbia State Historic Park

Established in 1850, Columbia State Historic Park is the best preserved of all California Gold Rush towns. Once known as the Gem of the Southern Mines, over one-half billion dollars in gold (at today’s currency rate) between the 1850s and 1870s was mined in the area. At that time it was the state’s second largest city. Today it is a year-round getaway that offers a unique blend of museums, displays, town tours, live theater, shops, restaurants and saloons. No other location offers a better overview of California’s Gold Rush history. Docents (trained volunteers) appear in costumes throughout the park, and interpret Anglo life in a California Gold Rush town with living history demonstrations. Events include the annual Columbia Diggin’s, which is a re-creation of the tent town days of early Columbia.

Angels Camp

Angels Camp is nestled on scenic Highway 49, with a history similar to that of many California Gold Rush towns. In 1848 Henry Angel opened a trading post and made a fortune selling items at grossly inflated prices. A single egg could be sold as high as $25 in today’s currency. Soon there were as many as 4,000 miners working the surface gold of Angels. Today, Angels Camp’s population is nearly 3,000, and the entire town remains honeycombed with miles of mine tunnels. One of its most popular attractions is Moaning Caverns, an immense limestone miracle with a main cavern large enough to hold the Statue of Liberty, which is open to the public.

Mark Twain Cabin – Jackass Hill

At the top of Jackass Hill, west of Tuttletown, sits a replica of the cabin where Mark Twain spent the winter of 1864. Twain heard a story about a jumping frog in the saloon at the Angels Hotel in Angels Camp. He returned to the cabin and wrote The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, his first great success as a writer. The California Historical Marker is located 1 mile northwest of Tuttletown on Highway 49.

Twain was a man of remarkable insight and wisdom, never afraid to look history straight in the face. Like his Huck Finn in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) – often named the Great American Novel – Twain was raised close to the Mississippi River, and overcame the entrenched values of the U.S. during that era, particularly racism. And as Americans, we will always be proud when remembering his quest for truth and justice for all.

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Despite his diminutive 5 ft frame, Norwegian composer Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a towering rock star long before the expression existed. Born into a successful Bergen merchant family in 1843, his life dramatically changed when violin virtuoso Ole Bull recognized his talent and also introduced him to the treasures of Norwegian folk music. Grieg studied the masters abroad, but dreamed of reprieves to his beloved Norwegian countryside – a pattern which continued after he became a world-renowned composer. Grieg and his wife built a home on Lake Nordås on the edge of Bergen, which he called his best opus so far. Christened Troldhaugen, the Victorian villa featured a tower, flagpole and rooftop vegetable garden. It soon became a center piece for Bergen’s artistic community and visiting dignitaries. Grieg loved the attention, but needed quiet to work, and built a composer’s hut by the lake. Grieg died in 1907 of chronic exhaustion. But today his legacy lives on at Troldhaugen – a living museum consisting of the Edvard Grieg Museum, the Villa, the Composer’s Hut, Concert Hall and Edvard Grieg´s tomb.

For me the highpoint of a visit to Troldhaugen was a recital at the concert hall, which is discreetly built right into the grounds, complete with sod roof. The floor-to-ceiling windows behind the stage overlooks the composer’s hut where Grieg would work, superstitiously sitting on a stack of sheet music by Beethoven so that he could reach the piano. At the end of each day, he would leave a note: “If anyone should break in here, please leave the musical scores, since they have no value to anyone except Edvard Grieg.”

It is essential that you spend at least two days in Bergen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bergen boasts endless tourist attractions, and the Bergen Tourist Card is an important component to your tour of this historic harbor town. The price allows you free or reduced- price admittance to the Bergen Art Museum, Fantoft Stave Church (a medieval wooden cathedral), harbor boat tour, Bergen Castle, and St Mary’s Church. Wander through the harbor fish market and down the wooden streets of the historic warehouse district. A fish buffet should be on everyone’s list for a sampling of Bergen’s world-famous fish soup, gravlaks (cured Atlantic salmon), fish cakes and hearty breads, all washed down with the city’s own Hansa beer.

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