Continuing a popular series of interactive and fun “Hands on History” activities, Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park will present a special “Hands on History: How Did John Sutter Expect to Make Money?” event on Saturday, May 19 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fort visitors will learn how John Sutter engaged in a number of business ventures in an effort to achieve financial success.  In fact, Sutter even gave away land and a start in the ranching business to any family that could make it to California!  On this special day, Fort guests will receive replica pages of original Fort ledgers -- including the famous John Bidwell ledger -- that show what items were for sale and at what price in the early d

Beginning on Saturday, May 12, and continuing on the second Saturday each month, Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park (SHP) with support from Friends of Sutter’s Fort (FOSF) is proud to present a fun and interactive new program titled “Scouts at the Fort.”   Designed to help Girl Scouts earn their “Playing the Past” skill building badges, docents and staff at Sutter’s Fort will help students re-create and experience daily life in the mid-1800s.   Initially developed by a dedicated 10-year old docent at Sutter’s Fort SHP who is also an active Girl Scout, the specially designed program lasts from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and includes hands-on crafts and activities such as toy making, daily chores

The annual trader's fair at Sutter's Fort in Midtown is a treat for photographers. Lots of adults and kids in period costume, running around looking like they belong in the time capsule-like fort. It's on the whole weekend and I visited first thing today armed with my 'old school' Olympus OM4Ti, an SLR without the 'D' in front of it. Unfortunately, I forgot one important thing about film - it tends to run out, a thing my 16GB micro-SD chip never will! Luckily I had my trusty iPhone and took a couple of snaps to whet your appetite - it's fun and educational so take your kids too. While we're talking snaps, I should mention that Action Camera (one of Sacramento's few remainig camera sh

Continuing a popular series of interactive and fun “Hands on History” activities, Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park will present a special “Hands on History: The Role of Women on the Frontier” event on Saturday, March 17, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.   During the special event, Fort visitors will quickly realize that emigrant women were not well-to-do Victorian ladies with pretty clothes who lived a life of leisure.  In contrast, simply getting enough hot water to wash their faces in the morning was an effort.  And, pioneer women were vital economic partners in families and many even set up their own businesses selling eggs, milk, or baked goods to neighbors and travelers. In Mexican California

Continuing a popular series of interactive and fun “Hands on History” activities, Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park will present a special “Hands on History: By Land and By Sea” event on Saturday, February 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cannon firing demonstrations are scheduled at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. with musket demonstrations happening periodically throughout the day. Through exciting demonstrations and fun hands-on activities, docents will help Fort visitors understand the two different ways emigrants originally came to California -- by land or by sea -- while sharing the unique challenges they faced and what daily life was like during their journeys.  As an event highlight, the New

Launching an exciting new season of interactive and fun “Hands on History” activities, Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park presents a special “Hands on History: Trappers, Trades, and Treaties” event on Saturday, January 21, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors to the Fort will step back in time to the 1840s to learn why trappers were considered “jacks of many trades” and experience how they lived, worked, explored new territory and traded with local Native Americans.  Docents will treat Fort visitors to musket demonstrations and share examples of many fascinating aspects in the life of a trapper.  Fort visitors will have the hands-on opportunity to examine fur pelts, create documents with a quil

Step back in time to holidays past with festive, hands-on activities such as stringing popcorn and cranberries, candle dipping and crafting paper cut-out ornaments when Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park presents “Hands on History: A Simple Emigrant Christmas” on Saturday, December 10 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.   Friends and families are encouraged to visit the Fort to enjoy docents in period attire as they interpret and demonstrate a variety of early holiday traditions and cultural activities similar to what early emigrants did in the 1840s.  For instance, docents will help demonstrate and share holiday traditions from  Germany, Scandinavia, Mexican California, England, and Russia.  In fact, S

Darkness lends a bit of mystery to the Fort and an evening’s romantic aura can often disguise the harsh reality of both early pioneer life and today’s urban concerns.  See the Sutter’s Fort in a new light—candlelight!  Providing an alluring new perspective for visitors, Sutter’s Fort offers just a once a year, evening tours by candle light on Saturday, November 19 from 6:30 - 9 p.m.  Guides will lead small groups of visitors into the Fort’s more intimate rooms for intriguing glimpses into the private lives of those who uprooted their families for a better life in early California.  Overhear conversations such as families discussing opportunity or possible devastation in their new homes, hu

Calling all foodies and history enthusiasts!  After a successful inaugural effort in 2010, Friends of Sutter’s Fort in association with Slow Food Sacramento proudly present the second annual “A Taste of History” fundraising event this Saturday evening, September 24.  “A Taste of History” offers guests a unique culinary experience that includes a four-course, sit-down dinner amid a beautiful setting inside the walls of Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park (SHP).    The highlight of the memorable event is a specially designed menu designed to showcase meals reminiscent of those enjoyed when John Sutter founded Sutter’s Fort in 1839.  Many historic recipes will be re-invented with today’s innov

After a successful inaugural effort in 2010, Friends of Sutter’s Fort in association with Slow Food Sacramento proudly present the second annual “A Taste of History” fundraising event on Saturday evening, September 24.  “A Taste of History” offers guests a unique culinary experience that includes a four-course, sit-down dinner amid a beautiful setting inside the walls of Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park (SHP).    The highlight of the memorable event is a specially designed menu designed to showcase meals reminiscent of those enjoyed when John Sutter founded Sutter’s Fort in 1839.  Many historic recipes will be re-invented with today’s innovative techniques and vibrant local ingredients. 

Do you like history? How about ghosts? And puns? What about historically significant (and knowledgeable) pun-loving phantasms?  I, for one, am a glutton for punishment. In this case, incorporeal punishment. I received all that I wanted and more on Friday night at the Old Sacramento Ghost Tour. Put on by The Historic Old Sacramento Foundation, the Ghost Tour is an hour-long guided stroll around Old Sac that begins and ends at the Eagle Theater.  I arrived at the theater about 10 minutes before the tour was to begin and joined the crowd that was already milling about. Holding court on the theater steps with the rapt attention of a young family was a gentleman who looked eerily similar to

  Local chefs Kurt Spataro, Michael Tuohy and others joined forces to create an 1850s-inspired four-course meal for “A Taste of History” at Sutter’s Fort. The fundraiser will benefit Friends of Sutter’s Fort, a group that continues to keep the historic monument open to the public. The menu, taken from John Sutter’s era, has been adapted using local ingredients. Honey and olive oil samples will be served as well as beverages from local wineries and breweries. Lisa Mealoy, event coordinator with Friends of Sutter’s Fort, said the dinner is meant to “emulate the community-oriented” traits of Sutter, who established Sutter’s Fort in 1839. She said he was a hospitable, generous man who trea

Sutter's Fort Living History and Pioneer Demonstration Days return to the year 1846, the year California became a U.S. territory. Park docents and volunteers re-create the everyday life and times at "Fort New Helvetia," Sutter’s original name for the Fort. Men dressed in heavy buckskin loading their flintlock rifles. Soldiers from the 1840s perform drills, while the blacksmith makes horseshoes at a hot forge. Women scrub clothes on a washboard and prepare stews over cooking fires. Docent Mark DeLong holds a cannonball as he explains Sutter had the cannon in the Southeast bastion of the original fort until 1846, when the guns were removed and it was used for storage. Then the bastion was

Sutter's Fort is located at 2701 L St. and was open to the public for museum day.   Photo #1: Welcome sign to Sutter's Fort on L St. Photo #2: Perimeter wall running parallel to L St. Photo #3: Cannons are still in place to defend the fort (looking out at L St.) Photo #4: Free crafts for museum day guests Photo #5: The Weaving Room Photo #6: Courtyard inside the fort Photo #7: Pond located outside the fort in the park   Photos courtesy of Matthew Ceccato

                                                                 Sutter Capitol Pavilion The Sutter Capitol Pavilion includes more than 200,000 square feet of new space for physician offices, procedure rooms and ancillary services. The artistically designed and inviting new four-story medical building will be home to 40 specialists’ offices and 128 exam and procedure rooms. In keeping with the goal of delivering excellent care and improved patient convenience and satisfaction, the building also features cardiac rehabilitation and a new all-digital imaging center. Other highlights of this project are a vascular laboratory, and leading outpatient services, including an ambulatory surgery c

If you live in the Midtown or Downtown areas, you've likely seen a polka-dotted cycle rickshaw around town lately. Chances are it was a Velocab, a part-engine, part-human-powered vehicle that serves as a taxi for one to three people. In a recent Sacramento Press article, Velocab owner Marc Christensen mentioned several historic spots accessible by a short bike ride. The following is a photo essay that captures a glimpse of what one might view on one of these rides, which takes less than two hours: Pictured: a Velocab, a zero-emissions taxi. Above: The Sacramento Press began its Velocab tour near the Amtrak station. It proceeded underneath the highway and into Old Sacramento. Photograph

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed cutting state park spending by $70 million and that  would require state parks that do not cover there own costs to be closed. 220 of 279 state parks would be closed if this proposal was put into place including Sutter’s Fort, the State Capitol Museum, the Leland Stanford Mansion, the California Indian Museum & Cultural Center, Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park and the Governor’s Mansion.      

Singapore. Kailua, Hawaii. And Sacramento? Yes, our hometown has made the Los Angeles Times' "most underrated places of the world" list. Compiled by the newspaper's travel staff, the list includes spots around the world as great places to visit that usually don't make the covers of the glossy travel magazines. But why Sacramento? The Times says it's a great day trip, full of history and beauty. And the newspaper is right: Here's an excerpt from the Times http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-underrated19-2009apr19: Why people ignore it: Just 80 miles from the breezy, self-consciously quaint tourist magnet of San Francisco, Sacramento is anything but. Saddled with hot summers, a dy

... I pitched an idea for an event that celebrates the arrival of John Sutter and the subsequent founding of the city of Sacramento. While Old Sacramento annually hosts Gold Rush Days around the Labor Day weekend, I am not aware of an event that celebrates the city's founder and his fort. Is he too controversial? I hope not. A city should be able to celebrate its history and events such as this help promote civic pride and a sense of community.  Proposal A celebration of the founding of the city of Sacramento that highlights the lower American river and Sutter’s Fort and encourages folks to come out for the day and participate in period attire. A family event commemorating the landing of